Recognition of the crimes committed by France during Algeria’s 130-year colonial rule and bloody war of independence is a long-cherished wish in the North African country. France colonized Algeria from 1830 to 1962 and fought a war of independence between 1954 and 1962, in which an estimated 300,000 to 1.5 million Algerian civilians died.
But France does not want more than establishing that there had been torture, as French President Emmanuel Macron did in 2018. As far as Macron is concerned, there is no question of apologizing. “The worst thing would be to decide: ‘We apologize and go our separate ways,’” said Macron in 2023. “Working on memories and history is not the same as settling all scores.”
That is why Algeria is now taking a different tack. In March, a parliamentary committee was set up to criminalize French colonial rule. On Wednesday afternoon, 407 members of the National People’s Assembly voted unanimously in favor of the law that the committee drafted.
In five chapters with a total of 27 articles, the law lists the crimes committed by France – such as mass murders, disappearances, the plunder of resources – and classifies them as an indeterminate “state crime” against humanity. The purpose of the law is to obtain recognition and apology for the crimes committed by colonial rule, but also to protect history from disinformation.
The law is a political message through which Algeria expresses its commitment to its inalienable rights and its loyalty to the sacrifices of its people
Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Boughali called the text a “milestone in the history of modern Algeria” and “an ultimate act of sovereignty.” According to Boughali the law is “a political message through which Algeria expresses its commitment to its inalienable rights and its loyalty to the sacrifices of its people.”
To ensure this, the law includes prison sentences for glorifying the French occupation. Algeria is also demanding reparations from France, as well as the return of national archives and information about the nuclear tests that France carried out between 1960 and 1966, and from which Algerians still suffer health consequences. Algiers wants to know the precise locations of the nuclear tests and demands that France clean up the remains and compensate the victims.
One of the articles of law stipulates that Algeria must do everything to obtain an apology from France, and makes this a condition for strengthening ties with Paris. It is highly questionable whether France will respond to this. The French government has not commented on the preparations of the law by the parliamentary committee, and did not respond to the new law on Wednesday.
Also read
More commemorations, but still no real recognition of the massacre of Algerian demonstrators in Paris
Diplomatic relations
Two previous attempts to pass a similar law failed in 2001 and 2006 because then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika did not want to disrupt diplomatic relations between Paris and Algiers. But now that those relationships have already reached a low point, nothing stood in the way of the law anymore.
Earlier this month, demonstrations took place in Paris for the release of French journalist Christophe Gleizes, who is in prison in Algeria for alleged terrorism.
Photo Charlotte Siemon/AFP
The ties between Algiers and Paris suffered a major dent when France recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in July last year. That was a blow to Algeria, which has been resisting its neighbor’s rule since the Moroccan occupation of the area began in 1975. Algeria supports the Polisario freedom movement, which stands up for the original Sahrawi population in the former Spanish colony, and saw French recognition as betrayal. Algiers then withdrew its ambassador from France.
That escalation was followed by several conflicts, including over the death of the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers, the prison sentence for French journalist Christophe Gleizes in Algeria over alleged terrorism and the failed deportation of an Algerian influencer from France early this year.
In April, relations reached a new low. After France arrested three Algerians on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, Algeria announced that it would expel twelve French diplomats. Macron then also decided to expel twelve Algerian diplomats and recall the French ambassador from Algiers. With the law passed on Wednesday and the condition included in it of a formal apology from France, reconciliation between Paris and Algiers seems increasingly remote.
The journalistic principles of NRC