France willing to discuss Niger reparations

More than a century after its troops burned villages and looted cultural artefacts in the quest to include Niger in its west African colonial portfolio, France has signalled willingness over possible restitution, but is yet to acknowledge responsibility, reports The Guardian. ‘France remains open to bilateral dialogue with the Nigerien authorities, as well as to any collaboration concerning provenance research or patrimonial co-operation,’ the office of France’s permanent representative to the UN wrote in a document. The 19 June response was given to a letter dated two months earlier from a UN special rapporteur working on a complaint by four Nigerien communities representing descendants of victims of the 1899 Mission Afrique Centrale (MAC), one of the most violent colonial campaigns in Africa. ‘Although France was aware of the atrocities at the time, no MAC officer has ever been held responsible for these crimes … France has not conducted any official inquiry or acknowledged the horrors inflicted on the communities affected,’ wrote Bernard Duhaime, the UN special rapporteur working on the case and a professor of international law at the University of Quebec in Montreal. In 1899, French officers marched tirailleurs – as the African soldiers under their command were known – through communities in present-day Niger. They killed thousands of unarmed people and looted supplies, terrorising local people into compliance. The next year, Niger became officially absorbed into French west Africa.

Full report in The Guardian