French called upon to acknowledge "crimes against the Algerians"

The Secretary-General of the Algerian National Liberation Front has called upon the people and government of France to acknowledge their “crimes against the Algerians”. Abdelaziz Belkhadem called the crimes a “stigma” upon the former colonial power. Speaking on the anniversary of the 1st November revolution to a national gathering of NLF activists on Saturday, the speech by Mr Belkhadem was broadcast by the official Algerian media.

“We are not asking for revenge or vengeance,” he said, “but we want France to have the courage to acknowledge its crimes officially.” He stressed that his party will remain “firm” about asking France to apologise to the Algerian people for what it had done to them.

---

Belkhadem said that the population of Algeria was 8 million when France occupied the country in 1830. Despite a higher than average birth rate, it was the same when the French occupation ended in 1962. That, he claimed, illustrates the enormity of the “genocide” committed against the Algerians during the 130 years of French rule.

“Today there are those who seek to obscure the truth about the inhumanity of French rule,” said Mr Belkhadem, “by issuing laws which glorify the occupation.” He stressed that such French laws “cannot change the facts about France’s crimes in Algeria”. If, he added, France apologises for its crimes against the people of Algeria, that shameful chapter of history can be closed. “We can build a fruitful relationship in an atmosphere of mutual respect,” he said.

In the meantime, Belkhadem called upon Algerian youth to “have the full spirit of the revolution” in response to French officials who describe those who are demanding an apology as “extremists”. He also called for the history of Algeria to be written “free of distortion”, adding that “if we do not take it upon us to write a pure history, we will be responsible before the future generations”. The French, he insisted, “continue to distort Algeria’s history, even as they are preparing to commemorate the ending of colonial rule”. The way the French put it, claimed Belkhadem, you’d think that Algeria had no history before they arrived on the scene.