The Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, confirmed that the memory issue between Algeria and the former colonizer, France, “does not accept concessions or bargaining” and must be addressed boldly to restore confidence between the two countries, as stated in a message published by the presidency, Tuesday, on the occasion of National Memory Day.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the “massacres of May 8, 1945,” Tebboune said, “The memory file does not erode with age or forgetfulness due to the passage of years, and does not accept concessions or compromises. It will remain at the core of our concerns until it is addressed in an objective, bold, and fair treatment of the historical truth.”
For Algerians, this date coincides with bloody events that began with a demonstration in the east of the country, especially in the city of Setif, to celebrate the Allied victory over Nazism. Then it turned into demands for a “free and independent Algeria,” which was suppressed by colonial forces, resulting in thousands of deaths.
The Algerian President, who is expected to visit Paris between the end of September and the beginning of November, added: “While I affirm readiness to move toward the future in an atmosphere of trust, I consider that credibility and seriousness are a basic requirement for completing the procedures and endeavors related to this delicate and sensitive file.”
Since 2022, a joint committee of 10 historians, 5 from each side, has been working to “look together at that historical period” from the beginning of colonialism in 1830 until the end of the War of Independence in 1962.
The committee held several meetings in the two capitals, the last of which was in Paris in February, and among its results was an agreement to recover all the property that symbolizes state sovereignty belonging to Prince Abdelkader Ibn Muhyiddin (1808-1883), who is in the eyes of the Algerians the founder of the modern state and the hero of the resistance against French colonialism.
The committee also recommended placing signs “in places of memory” in France where Algerians who were imprisoned at the beginning of the colonial campaign were buried.
France had previously handed over to Algeria in 2020 the remains of 24 resistance fighters who were killed at the beginning of the French colonization of Algeria, which lasted 132 years between 1830 and 1962. But Algeria continued to demand the return of “skulls found in museums” for reburial.
At the end of March, the French National Assembly approved a resolution condemning the “massacre” of October 17, 1961 in Paris committed by the police against Algerian demonstrators, which Tebboune saw as a “positive step.”
Before the expected visit of the Algerian President to France, which has been postponed several times, “pre-presidential” elections will be held on September 7, 2024, that is, 3 months before their date, but Tebboune has not yet announced his candidacy for a second term.
