Relations between France and Algeria are at an all-time low as the question of colonial memory continues to poison the links between Paris and Algiers.
France, “eternal enemy ” of Algeria? It was with this sensational outing that the Algerian Minister of Labor, El Hachemi Djaâboub, described the relationship between the two countries in early April. A statement that was not appreciated on the French side, and which was followed by the postponement of the visit of Jean Castex, which was to take place on April 11.
To qualify this episode as anecdotal would be an understatement, as bilateral relations between France and Algeria have been tumultuous since the latter’s independence in 1962. Despite outstretched hands and calls to move forward, two sides of the Mediterranean, the diplomatic improvement is not for now, while the question of memory around colonization and the Algerian war crystallizes the tensions between the two countries.
“In a bad patch”
The resignation in April 2019 of former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, carried away by the Hirak protest youth movement, and his replacement at the head of power by his former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune, will not have changed anything. If it is only the support given by President Macron to the new Algerian head of state, angered the demonstrators, still in the street two years later, and despite the health crisis.
“We find ourselves in a paradoxical situation where France makes courtesies to the Algerian power which refers to it the crimes of colonialism, and at the same time, we are attacked by the Hirak to support the Algerian government. We are in a bad patch. And we don’t see at all what could be better, Analyzes the historian Pierre Vermeren, specialist of the Maghreb and author, among others, of French Denial: our secret history of Franco-Arab links, published by Albin Michel in 2019.
Handed over to Emmanuel Macron on January 20, the report by historian Benjamin Stora recommends the establishment of a “Memory and Truth” commission, responsible for promoting joint memory initiatives between France and Algeria. A commission that would bring together various personalities working in favor of a rapprochement between the two countries, and which would propose several recommendations, including the continuation of commemorations, such as that of March 19, 1962, requested by several associations of veterans, as well as the construction of ‘a stele in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire), showing the portrait of Emir Abdelkader, at the time of the 60th anniversary of the independence of Algeria in 2022.
An “appalling” economic situation
It remains to be seen whether this approach will be enough to ease tensions between the two countries. Diverse received, the report raised many criticisms, as much in Algeria as in France, in particular for not having recommended an “apology” of Paris for the crimes of the colonial period (1830-1962).
“We currently have no problem with France,” Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured during a televised interview with Algerian media last March. Before qualifying: “We will not favor good relations to the detriment of history and memory.”
Despite an important economic partnership between the two countries – France being Algeria’s second-largest supplier – political relations do not seem to change anytime soon. “Algeria has considerable problems with the fall in the price of oil. They are in a very worrying economic and political situation. To hold out, the regime is attacking France, which is a convenient argument, ”said Pierre Vermeren. And to add: ” We are in a love-hate. “
