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00:00OK, we're going to listen to Paul Bia, delivering his remarks then.
00:09First of all, I would like to thank President Emmanuel Macron
00:15for inviting me here
00:20to take part in the 80th anniversary of the Provence landing.
00:25I would also like to thank him for the very warm welcome
00:32for myself and my delegation.
00:36I also salute your presence here,
00:40all of you who have come all this way
00:45to inaugurate in 1964 by General de Gaulle
00:51who was then President of the Republic
00:55in the presence of many combatants from France and Africa
01:00on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Provence landing.
01:09The Boulogne Necropolis is full of history.
01:14This is a place of remembering,
01:18this is a place of remembering, of pain,
01:24of taking stock,
01:27which calls upon us to think about the future of the world.
01:33Many soldiers here in Saint-Raphael
01:38and in the hinterlands of Provence as in Normandy and elsewhere in Europe
01:44gave their lives to fight the occupation,
01:50to save liberty,
01:53creating a wonderful chain of solidarity.
02:00We are still here today
02:03to remember their valor,
02:07to remember this war for liberty.
02:13And to pay homage.
02:19Heads of state and government, ladies and gentlemen,
02:24the thousands of men under leadership of the General de Lattre de Tassigny
02:31fought with courage
02:34and many of them were from the colonial empire of France
02:38who came from sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere
02:44and the contribution of Africa was significant
02:49to break the German occupation.
02:58An occupation destroying liberty
03:02and the troops had been given the order to fight
03:06to their very last bullet.
03:12Assistance from the Free France territories
03:18provided major support
03:22in this battle.
03:25Among others, it was to raise troops in Africa
03:31considered as a potential base for reconquering Europe
03:36that Colonel Leclerc went to Cameroon.
03:43The rallying of Cameroon, one of the very first,
03:48was immediately obtained as early as the 27th of August 1940
03:55which made General de Gaulle say that Cameroon had just
04:01made a wonderful decision
04:03and are setting a magnificent example.
04:07The swiftness of this rallying allowed General de Gaulle
04:13to demonstrate to his allies the reality of a combative France.
04:20The troops under command of Colonel Leclerc
04:25had many men from French equatorial Africa
04:32and Cameroon.
04:35It is from Douala that the expeditions departed
04:40which then made up the Leclerc column.
04:47There are many courageous acts of these soldiers
04:53and they went through Tunisia in 1942
04:57and then through Sicily in Italy and then Corsica.
05:01Without omitting Chad.
05:05Everywhere where the fighting took them,
05:09these valorous soldiers from Africa,
05:15from Madagascar, from the Indian Ocean
05:20were magnificently illustrated.
05:25They did pay a very heavy tribute for the victory.
05:29The combatants were often heirs to memorable warrior traditions
05:40with wonderful courage and audacity and loyalty.
05:44They were the artisans of victory.
05:49Their blood forever mixed with other blood
05:54so that France and its allies
05:59be definitively covered in glory.
06:04In this day of memory, we owe them enormous respect.
06:12Heads of state and government, ladies and gentlemen,
06:17there would not have been an Allied victory
06:22without the sacred alliance of the volunteers
06:26and the contribution of other peoples.
06:30Without foreigners, without the tirayeux,
06:36this battle was won altogether
06:40in defense of the values and humanist values of justice and peace.
06:47This presents a vision of the world and mankind which we share.
06:52On behalf of this, together we fought side by side.
06:58These legions were respectful of our differences,
07:04of the infinite diversity of humans, of civilizations, of religions.
07:12And this vision within all of us
07:17says that we all have equal access to dignity.
07:24And this battle was a precious lesson
07:28that we must perpetuate and transmit to future generations
07:33to avoid the errors made in our past.
07:38Personally, I have the conviction that international solidarity
07:43and better understanding of the interests of other countries,
07:48especially in the Global South,
07:53would provide more peace in the world today.
07:58This is also the meaning of our presence here.
08:03Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
08:08we are here in Provence,
08:11to remember a war of the past
08:15and to pay homage to the heroes of our history.
08:20But the war which we thought forever banished from our territory
08:27is once again present in Europe and closer than ever.
08:34Once again, men are fighting just a few hours from here.
08:38This is to say that international organizations
08:43and the systems implemented following the two World Wars,
08:49especially the Second World War, remain perfectible.
08:55Yes, the ghosts of revenge
09:00and the flagrant violation of state sovereignty
09:04is intolerable
09:08in our daily lives.
09:12International law interpreted in various ways,
09:17the instrumentalization,
09:21the right to forget,
09:25or other wars and the permanent willingness to dominate,
09:29to exploit, to build a world in one's own advantage,
09:35are the shadows in which we stand today
09:40and which explain our presence here.
09:45This commemoration must also highlight
09:50our collective responsibility
09:54in preserving peace and liberty in the world.
09:59We must find responses
10:03to the terror of terrorism,
10:08injustice.
10:12We must bolster trust
10:16in multilateralism
10:19to bring to life the concord
10:23and make the world safer.
10:27Almost everywhere,
10:31the major question remains
10:35to know whether we should capitulate
10:39before the pessimism of the inevitability of war
10:43or if we can still build a future full of hope
10:46where war would definitively be part of history.
10:51Unfortunately, geopolitics,
10:55world geostrategy,
10:59dominated by the race to arms,
11:03by the construction of blocks,
11:07has back.
11:11Once again,
11:14we see paramilitary militias
11:18being set up,
11:22and now war is carried out by proxies.
11:26If we do nothing,
11:30the world once again is heading
11:34for conflict with incalculable consequences.
11:38Cameroon has always
11:41had recourse to dialogue,
11:45to concerted solutions.
11:49We have always made the Pacific Resolution of Differences
11:53the key to our undertakings
11:57to stop war and strife.
12:01Here I would like to salute
12:05the organization of this commemoration
12:08which constitutes an excellent occasion
12:12to promote solidarity amongst nations
12:16for lasting peace so we can all face
12:20the major problems of our times together.
12:24Thank you for your kind attention.