It's not all that funny, considering that the reason they were paying those reparations was the 'damages' inflicted upon French slaveowners by slaves freeing themselves.
It was all damages - lost property (land and slaves), deaths, lost profits, etc. It was a terrible but necessary sacrifice on the part of Haiti because it was the only way France would recognise their independence, which paved the way for other countries to do the same (but nobody was forthcoming on their own either out of fear of pissing of France or their own slaves/colonies rebelling).
France required compensation money in exchange for recognition of Haiti (which was Haiti's only choice at the time, nobody else wanted to recognise them). Because of course Haiti didn't have the money nor any realistic prospects of coming up with the money soon (not only was their infrastructure decimated by the slave revolts and civil war and revolution and various campaigns, their cash crops were only viable with slave labour, so unviable in the free Haiti), French banks provided loans at exorbitant rates to pay France. Those loans were the ones that Haiti was still paying, to French banks, not France the country. Banks have zero interest of forgiving loans, regardless of ethics, so it's not at all surprising they never did.
