ISTANBUL 

French President Emmanuel Macron said during an official visit to Madagascar on Thursday that he wants to "create the conditions" for forgiveness for France's colonial legacy.

Speaking at the former royal palace of Rova in the capital Antananarivo, Macron acknowledged the “painful” and “bloody” chapters of French colonial history on the island, French broadcaster BFMTV reported.

"Only you can walk the path of forgiveness, which is deeply personal. But we are creating the conditions for it through this very human, personal, and symbolic connection that allows mourning what no longer exists," Macron said.

He emphasized the importance of enabling "truth, memory, history, and reconciliation to emerge" and called for a collaborative approach involving historians from both countries to examine the colonial past.

"Our presence here is not innocent. Our history is written through the ages, but it carries deeply painful pages," he said.

France colonized Madagascar in 1896 after a military campaign against the Merina monarchy.

Reports estimate that between 11,000 and 90,000 people were killed, with reports of mass executions, torture, and widespread brutality, particularly in the island’s east.

Madagascar remained under French control until it gained independence in 1960.

Macron is the fifth French president to visit Madagascar and only the second to pay a state visit, following Charles de Gaulle, Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, and Francois Hollande.

The visit is part of Macron’s broader tour of the Indian Ocean region, which began earlier this week in Mayotte and continued in La Reunion.

He is in Madagascar to attend the 5th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), which includes Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, and France through its overseas department of Reunion.

In recent years, France has taken symbolic steps to confront its colonial past in countries such as Algeria and Cameroon, though calls for formal apologies and reparations continue.