Algeria: ‘No compromise on settling issue of national memory with France,’ insists president

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stressed on Sunday that he will not give up on the “memory file” related to the crimes committed by France during the colonial era (1830-1962), Anadolu has reported. Tebboune made this clear in a message to the Algerian people on the 59th anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France published on Facebook.

The president said that the issue will be tackled “with a view to protecting Algeria’s rights from the terrible tragedies and heinous crimes” that were committed during the colonial era. He described France’s colonisation of his country as abhorrent and that it involved murder, abuse, and destruction.

Algeria calls for a comprehensive settlement based on “France’s final and comprehensive recognition of its crimes against the Algerians, an apology and just compensation.”

READ: Algeria celebrates National Day of Memory for the first time

On Sunday, Algeria’s Minister for War Veterans, Tayeb Zitouni, said that “France still refuses to hand over the maps of the nuclear experiments that it conducted in the Algerian desert during the 1960s.” The French colonial authorities conducted a series of nuclear tests in the Algerian desert — four above ground and thirteen underground — between 1960 and 1966.

Around five million Algerians are estimated to have been killed by the French colonial authorities. In 2012, France’s former President Francois Hollande acknowledge the massacres for the first time during a visit to Algeria.

Tebboune said in May that relations with France will not be upgraded without taking into account history and addressing the memory issue. The latter cannot be waived, regardless of the justifications.