Macron announces joint commission with Haiti amid calls for reparations

France imposed harsh ransom' after 1825 Revolution that campaigners say stunted Caribbean country's development

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has announced a joint commission with Haiti to examine the countries' shared past as Haitian campaigners demand a reimbursement of billions of dollars worth of ransom" paid to France.

Macron announced his intention to create the commission as campaigners renewed calls for reparations on the bicentenary of an agreement to pay 150m francs to France in 1825 to compensate slave-owning colonists after the Haitian Revolution.