Emmanuel Macron will preside over a ceremony on Saturday at the Élysée for the 60th anniversary of the Evian Accords and the ceasefire in Algeria, with a concern for “appeasement” of memories and “outstretched hand” to Algeria
The date of March 19, 1962, which marked the entry into force of the ceasefire between the French army and the Algerian separatists, continues to be controversial. This did not prevent Emmanuel Macron from organizing, on Saturday, at the Elysée, a ceremony for the 60th anniversary of the Evian Accords. “Commemorating is not celebrating”, however, underlined the Elysée, taking care to spare all susceptibilities less than a month from the first round of the presidential election.
“A step on this path”
The returnees dispute the reference to the Evian Accords – signed on March 18, 1962, and which led to the implementation of the ceasefire the following day – to commemorate the end of the Algerian war (1954-1962) because the violence that continued until the independence of Algeria on July 5, 1962, and ended with the exodus of hundreds of thousands of them to France.
“All the events linked to the war in Algeria did not end overnight with the signing of the Evian Accords”, conceded the Elysée, citing, in particular, the shooting in the rue d’Isly in Algiers, in which dozens of supporters of French Algeria were killed by the army on March 26, 1962.
“March 19 is a stage on this path (from memory) but it is not the end”, insisted the presidency, recalling that a tribute would also be paid to the conscripts of the Algerian war on October 18. if Emmanuel Macron is “re-elected”.
The ceremony, which will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., will bring together witnesses from all memories linked to the Algerian war, conscripts, independence fighters, Harkis, and returnees.
The Minister of the Armies Florence Parly, the Chief of Staff of the Armies Thierry Burckhard as well as elected officials, including the mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse, city which will host the future museum of the History of France and Algeria, will also be present. Algeria’s ambassador to France, Mohamed-Antar Daoud, was also invited, the Elysee said, without specifying whether he had accepted the invitation.
“Reconcile” and “appease”
Relations between the two countries are marked by certain appeasement as the elections approach after two years of tension. Prime Minister Jean Castex could thus pay a visit to Algiers on March 23 and 24, said Elysee. This, initially scheduled for 2021, had been canceled against the backdrop of bilateral tensions.
The objective of this commemoration, “reconcile” and “appease”, remains the same as during the previous meetings of the quinquennium around the Algerian war, underlined a presidential adviser. The Head of State wanted, through a series of memorial gestures, “to reconcile France and Algeria” as well as the “compartmentalized memories” in France, recalled the Elysée.
Following the recommendations of the historian Benjamin Stora, he recognized the responsibility of the French army in the death of the communist mathematician Maurice Audin and that of the nationalist lawyer Ali Boumendjel during the battle of Algiers in 1967.
A stele in memory of Abd el-Kader, Algerian national hero of the refusal of the French colonial presence, was erected in France in Amboise (center) and the skulls of Algerian resistance fighters of the 19th century returned to Algeria.
But Algiers, which is demanding an official apology from France for colonization, did not follow up on this work of memory. “It is a hand which is stretched out and which will remain stretched out”, however, underlined the Elysée.
