Part of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Provence had to be cancelled Thursday because of the risk of violent storms in the south of France. President Emmanuel Macron nonetheless payed homage to the soldiers recruited from France's colonies.
Thursday's commemoration is an "unbreakable recognition" of the heroes of 15 August 1944, Macron said Thursday in a speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of Operation Dragoon, which has was overshadowed by the Normandy landings two months earlier, but that was key to ending World War II in Europe.
In Boulouris-sur-Mer, on the coast where close to 500 soldiers who died for France lay buried, Macron spoke to an audience that included African heads of state as part of an homage to the contribution of soldiers recruited, often forcibly, from France's colonies.
Soldiers were "conscious of fighting for a cause much larger than the cliffs, the danger or their lives," Macron said, adding that they were "ready to die so that France can live freely".
'Foreigners were key'
"There would not have been an Allied victory without the contribution of other people, without foreigners," Cameroonian President Paul Biya said in a speech.
"Africans paid a large price for the Allied victories," he said, adding that the fight was "fought together, to defend the universal values and ideals of peace and justice".
Biya was one of only six African heads of state who accepted the invitation to attend the commemoration - Cameroon Central African Republic, Comoros, Gabon, Morocco and Togo - as several stayed away over diplomatic tensions, including Niger, Mali and Algeria.
Burkina Faso sent an envoy. Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal sent ministers, where as Chad and Benin sent their ambassadors.
The commutation was interrupted by the risk of violent storms along the coast, and nearly all of the events were cancelled, including a reenactment of the landing on Lido beach in Toulon and a parachutist landing.
Macron was to hold a working meeting with the heads of state after the ceremony.
(with newswires)
