Verquin : ville de la mémoire et de l’amitié franco-congolaise

Brazzaville - capital of the AEF, (French Equatorial Africa included four French territories in Central Africa: Middle Congo (today Congo-Brazzaville), Gabon, Oubangui-Chari (today Central Africa) and Chad), Brazzaville was a strategic area and the city from which the first armed forces of Free France departed. It was still in Brazzaville that General de Gaulle launched his manifesto to constitute the defense council of the empire. It was in Brazzaville that the so-called Brazzaville conference was held, under the aegis of General de Gaulle, which made it possible to lay the foundations of the French Union. Finally, it was in Brazzaville that General de Gaulle delivered an important speech on autonomy, the self[1]determination of peoples, a speech which paved the way for decolonization and two years later for the independence of most French-speaking African countries. If we should recall a few dates, remember, simply that it was in Brazzaville during the Nazi occupation that General de Gaulle organized the resistance from this country which counts in the history of France.