Algeria’s parliament has passed with full support a piece of legislation affirming France’s colonisation of the country a crime and called for an apology and compensation.
Legislators, standing in the chamber wearing scarves in the colors of the Algerian flag, shouted “long live Algeria” on Wednesday as they applauded the approval of the legislation, which states that the former colonial power holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the atrocities it caused”.
A Significant Strain and a Symbolic Gesture
The both nations are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis and observers say that while Algeria’s action is mostly gestural, it is still a major political statement.
“a clear message, both internally and internationally, that Algeria’s national memory is not erasable nor subject to negotiation.”
The legislation lists the “atrocities of French colonisation”, which encompass nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “torture” and the “widespread looting of resources”.
Demand for Compensation
It states that “full and fair reparation for all material and moral harms caused by French colonisation is an fundamental entitlement of the state and its people”.
France’s rule over Algeria from the 19th century until independence was a era marked by widespread deaths and forced displacements, culminating in the bloody independence war from 1954 to 1962.
- Algerian officials states the conflict killed one and a half million people.
- French historians put the death toll at half a million in total, four hundred thousand of them from Algeria.
Official Response and Historical View
The head of state, Emmanuel Macron, has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a “grave injustice” but has declined to offer an official apology.
Questioned recently about the parliamentary decision, a French foreign ministry representative said he would not discuss “internal political matters taking place in other nations”.
Hosni Kitouni in colonial history, commented that “legally, this law has little international force and therefore is not binding for the French state”. However, “its political and symbolic significance is considerable: it marks a break in the ties with France in terms of memory,” he added.
