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Colonialism was a grave mistake: French PM Emmanuel Macron

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaEdited By: Bharat SharmaUpdated: Dec 22, 2019, 01:06 PM IST
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File photo of Emmanuel Macron. Photograph:(AFP)

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Earlier, Macron had referred to French colonisation of Algeria as a ''crime against humanity''

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France on Saturday referred to colonialism as a ''grave mistake''. Additionally, he spoke about ''turning the page'' on the past while he was visiting Ivory Coast's Abidjan, a former French colony in West Africa.

Macron claimed that "[France was seen as] hegemonistic view and the trappings of colonialism that was a grave mistake and a fault of the Republic."

"I belong to a generation which was not part of the colonial-era'', he said.

"Three-fourths of your country never knew colonialism," he said, addressing Ivorians and called on African youth to "build a new partnership of friendship with France."

Earlier, during his election campaign for the presidency, Macron had referred to French colonisation of Algeria as a ''crime against humanity''.

Looking back at a TV interview in 2017, Macron had referred to eight years of war in Algeria as ''genuinely barbaric, and constitute a part of our past that we have to confront by apologising''. Algeria achieved independence in 1962.

(With inputs from agencies)