The Algerian President: There is no concession or bargaining in the memory file with France

Algeria – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stressed that “the memory issue between Algeria and the former colonizer France” does not accept concessions or bargaining, indicating that it must be addressed boldly to restore confidence between the two countries.

Tebboune said in a message published by the Algerian presidency yesterday, Tuesday, on the occasion of National Day of Remembrance (the anniversary of the massacres of May 8, 1945): “The memory file will not be eroded by obsolescence or forgetfulness due to the passage of years, and it does not accept compromise or compromise, and it will remain at the core of our concerns until it is addressed in an objective, bold manner.” And fair to historical truth.”

Tebboune added: “While I affirm readiness to move towards the future in an atmosphere of trust, I consider credibility and seriousness to be a basic requirement for completing the procedures and endeavors related to this delicate and sensitive file.”

For Algerians, this date coincides with the anniversary of 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.

Since 2022, a joint committee of ten historians, five 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 the state sovereignty of Emir Abdelkader bin Muhieddine (1808-1883), who is in the eyes of the Algerians the founder of the modern state and the hero of the resistance against colonialism. French.

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.”

Source: AFP