France refuses to acknowlegde its role in Algerian massacre

In Algeria, the memory of the “War of Liberation”, synonymous with massacres, torture, and displacement of people, cemented national sentiment. It also provided the government with legitimacy, coupled with an anti-French discourse, on which it continues to rely on 60 years later. 

“Concerning what Macron said and the important crimes of France in Algeria, we as Algerians must have a unified position between the people and the government against Macron and France to force them to recognize the crimes committed in Algeria, the very great crimes, the crimes against humanity without precedent in the world”, Mostapha ben Zayed, a civil servant said.

The French president will participate in three highly symbolic days of commemoration. These are the national day of the ‘’harkis’’ on September 25, the bloody repression of an Algerian demonstration on October 17, 1961, in Paris, and the Evian Accords of March 19, 1962, which consecrated the cease-fire in Algeria, thus paving the way for independence.

Macron is expected to closely study several proposals of the ‘’Stora Report’’, including the recognition of the assassination by the French army of the Algerian lawyer and nationalist leader Ali Boumendjel in 1957. The entry of the anti-colonialist lawyer Gisèle Halimi, who died on July 28, 2020, into the Pantheon which welcomes the heroes of French History.

In 2022, Algeria will mark the 60th anniversary of its independence from France. But the scars of their relationship with France are far from left behind.