Algeria celebrates Tuesday with great fanfare, including a military parade of unprecedented magnitude, the 60th anniversary of its independence after 132 years of French colonization, the memory of which still strains its relations with Paris.
After nearly eight years of war between Algerian insurgents and the French army, the guns fell silent on March 18, 1962, under the terms of the historic Evian Accords, paving the way for Algeria’s proclamation of independence on March 5 July of the same year, approved a few days earlier by 99.72% of the votes during a self-determination referendum.
After laying a wreath at the Martyrs’ Sanctuary in Algiers, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune standing in a car with an open roof in the company of the army chief of staff, General Saïd Chanegriha, reviewed units from several services security before kicking off the military parade.
Sixty bursts
At the same time, cannons fired sixty rounds to mark the occasion.
Several foreign guests, including Palestinian Presidents Mahmoud Abbas, Tunisian Kais Saied, and Nigerien Mohamed Bazoum, attend this military parade.
Independence was won after seven and a half years of war that left hundreds of thousands dead, making Algeria the only former French colony in Africa in the 1960s to break free by arms. under the supervision of France.
But 60 years after the end of colonization, the wounds remain raw in Algeria as France rules out any “repentance” or “apologies”, although French President Emmanuel Macron has endeavored since his election to soothe memories with a series of symbolic gestures.
In March, Mr. Tebboune said that the memorial file should be approached in a “fair” way, adding that the “crimes” of French colonization cannot be time-barred.
The bilateral relationship seemed to have bottomed out in October when Mr. Macron claimed that Algeria had been built after independence on “a memory rent”, maintained by “the politico-military system”, arousing ire from Algiers.
But relations have gradually warmed in recent months and Mr. Macron and Mr. Tebboune expressed their desire to “deepen” them in a telephone interview on June 18.
“Amnesty”
On Monday evening, the French presidency announced that Emmanuel Macron had sent a letter to his Algerian counterpart on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of independence, in which he called for “strengthening the already strong ties” between the two countries.
“He reiterates, moreover, his commitment to continue his process of recognition of the truth and reconciliation of the memories of the Algerian and French peoples”, adds the Elysée which specifies that a wreath will be deposited Tuesday in his name at the National Memorial. of the Algerian War, in Paris, in homage to the victims of the massacre of Europeans in Oran, on July 5, 1962.
Domestically, the government took advantage of the anniversary to try to ease tensions, three years after being shaken by the Hirak pro-democracy demonstrations.
In May, Mr. Tebboune launched an initiative to break the political immobility by receiving in turn several leaders of political parties, including the opposition, and officials of trade unions and employers’ organizations.
He announced on Monday, on the occasion of the anniversary of independence, an amnesty under which thousands of common law prisoners benefited from reduced sentences.
A “special law” that should allow Hirak detainees to also benefit from an amnesty is being prepared, according to the presidency.
