Apologies, reparations: the Stora report on Algeria awakens eternal frictions

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French historian Benjamin Stora gave Emmanuel Macron his report on Wednesday “on memorial issues relating to colonization and the Algerian war”. From the painful file of the harkis to that of the archives, the work of memory promises to be difficult.

Six months after being instructed by President Emmanuel Macron to “draw up a fair and precise inventory of the progress made in France on the memory of colonization and the Algerian war”, the historian Benjamin Stora presented in a report, Wednesday, January 20, its conclusions and recommendations.

The Élysée announced that the head of state intended to take “symbolic acts” to appease memories of the Algerian war and try to reconcile the two countries, but he will not present the “apologies” requested by Algiers.

In this report, Benjamin Stora, a recognized specialist in the contemporary history of Algeria, recommends in particular the creation in France of a “Memories and Truth” commission, responsible for proposing “joint initiatives between France and Algeria on the issues of memory “, to return to Algeria the sword of Abdelkader, hero of the resistance to French colonization in the 19th century, to recognize the assassination by the French army of the lawyer and Algerian nationalist leader Ali Boumendjel in 1957 or even to bring the anti-colonialist lawyer Gisèle Halimi, who died on July 28, 2020, into the Panthéon, which welcomes the heroes of French history.

Benjamin Stora, who will chair this commission, also wishes to facilitate the trips to Algeria of the harkis, these Algerian auxiliaries who fought for France, to work for the preservation of European and Jewish cemeteries in the country and to facilitate the work of historians on the painful question. Algerian and European disappeared.

No official reaction in Algeria

While Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who had a foot surgery that same Wednesday in Germany for post-Covid “complications” has still not returned to his country, these announcements have not elicited an official reaction from the other side of the country. the Mediterranean. Asked by AFP, the director of the national archives, Abdelmadjid Chikhi, in charge of a parallel work on the memorial question, did not wish to react “for the moment”.

The latter will also have to report his conclusions to his head of state, but as the newspaper El Watan explains, “Abdelmadjid Chikhi will in all likelihood have to await the return of President Tebboune of Germany” before handing over himself his report. “Abdelmadjid Chikhi will also have to bypass, or even sweep away, the temptations of political escalation of Algeria’s colonial past”, underlines El Watan.

For the Algerian newspaper L’Expression, this work of memory is “a difficult but necessary exercise” and allows the two countries to have “a common horizon turned towards the future”. “Benjamin Stora in his report explored the dead ends that led to incomprehension on both sides, before advocating solutions capable of going beyond them and allowing the passage from a community-based memory to a common memory”, enthusiastically sums up the everyday.

Le Quotidien d’Oran is more critical, stressing that the “reconciliation of memories” desired by the Elysee is not for tomorrow. “It is a process of recognition, but there is no question of repentance and apologies, ruled the French presidency, based on the opinion of Benjamin Stora who cites as an example the precedent of the apologies presented. by Japan to South Korea and China on the Second World War which did not allow to ‘reconcile’ these countries “, regrets the newspaper.

The sensitive issue of the Harkis

The newspaper Liberté for its part highlights the desire of Benjamin Stora to facilitate the trips of the harkis in Algeria, a chapter “very sensitive on the Algerian side”, he underlines. By the end of the conflict, some 60,000 harkis had been repatriated to France, but 55,000 to 75,000 had been abandoned to their fate by France in Algeria and, for the most part, massacred.

The French newspaper Liberation is also concerned about this issue in its edition of the day: “Benjamin Stora’s proposal to see with the Algerian authorities the possibility of facilitating the movements of harkis and their children between France and Algeria may become quickly a hotbed of tensions between the two countries “. The daily recalls that Abdelmadjid Chikhi has in the past declared that the harkis’ dossier would be “out of the discussion” by stressing “that their departure for France was a free choice”.

Access to archives

Another subject of friction, the request by Algiers to be restored “the totality” of the archives of the colonial period (1830-1962), while Paris sticks to an easy access for the researchers of the two countries.

But on social networks, even if many French historians have underlined the positive aspect of the report’s recommendations, they also pointed out that in practice they “will remain in vain” if the general interministerial instruction 1300 on protection of national defense secrecy (IGI 1300) is not reformed. As the association of archivists explains in a press release published on January 17, “for over a year, the systematic application of IGI 1300 (…) has led to subordinate all communication of documents prior to 1970 and bearing a ‘secret’ stamp to an administrative procedure called declassification “. In less technical terms, access to documents dating from the colonial period “is thus blocked for months, and sometimes years”.

Asked on the RFI antenna, Algerian essayist Akram Belkaïd was also moved by the issue of archives. “It is obvious that there is an absolute fantasy in Algeria about the archives. Some still think that France holds shameful secrets about betrayals, people who have played a double game or people who have served the interests of France while being at the FLN “, he summarized. While in France, access to documents has become more complicated in recent months, the writer also highlights the difficulties on the Algerian side: “Very few Algerian researchers have access to their own archives in Algeria, so much so that some prefer that they still remain in France for fear that they will be altered or put under wraps “.

After these criticisms, Benjamin Stora wanted to be reassuring, Thursday, on the antenna of France Inter: “Digitization is underway. The circulation of archives will be very important. We must go further and ensure that researchers can access the archives “.

After this report, “there will be words” and “acts” in “the coming months”, also assured the presidency, specifying that “a period of consultations” was opening, with in the background a “process long time “between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

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