The President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, spoke on Saturday evening, during an interview with Algerian media, about his visit to France, announced several times and then postponed.
“I will not go to Canossa,” President Tebboune replied in response to journalists who asked him about maintaining or canceling the visit to France, especially after the withdrawal of the Algerian ambassador to Paris at the end of last July, following France’s support for the Moroccan plan for occupied Western Sahara. As a reminder, the last schedule for President Tebboune’s visit to France was for the end of September, the beginning of October, which is in progress.
In response to a question regarding the work of the joint commission responsible for memory-related issues, which includes Algerian and French historians, the head of state said that it “played its role at the beginning, but the political statements made by a French minority harboring hatred towards Algeria affected its work.”
He continued by saying: “We want the historical truth and we demand the recognition of the massacres committed by French colonialism,” adding in the same context: “We will not accept the lies that are woven around Algeria.”
“Algeria was chosen for the real great replacement, which is to drive out the local population to bring back the European population and fight Islam to Christianize Algeria and make it a European land… We cannot erase history,” he said, recalling that “Algeria was a state before the French invasion in 1830,” he said.
And he added: “The resistance lasted 70 years, with millions of deaths. Tribes and villages were razed. There was a genocide. We demand the historical truth. We demand recognition of colonial crimes. I agreed with President Macron to rebuild relations. Algeria was not a protectorate. We must not falsify history.”
President Tebboune also indicated that he had spoken with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, about “opening a new page”, recalling that “the famous quote from the late President Houari Boumédiène: ‘We are turning the page but not tearing it up’ remains valid”.
The 1968 Agreement
The Head of State was also questioned about the 1968 agreement that France wanted to revise or cancel. “This 1968 agreement is a scarecrow,” replied President Tebboune. “The agreement came to reduce the provisions of the Evian agreements concerning the free movement of citizens between the two countries,” he recalled, and added: “As the Europeans had left, France had said that this article no longer had any reason to exist.” He also recalled that the 1968 agreement was revised three times: in 1985, 1995, and 2001.
It’s an empty shell. It’s a political slogan that is made to unite their extremes. It’s the banner behind which the army of extremists marches,” he said. “They are telling stories to the French people. The 1968 agreements do not influence the quality of immigration or the security of France. I am affirmative. And 65% of French people have nothing to do with that. It’s a hateful minority that cultivates hatred and wants to sully Algeria, but they won’t succeed,” he added.
“This racist minority forgets one thing, that is 60% of the national community in France have dual nationality,” he said, denouncing “the lies fabricated to sow hatred in the hearts of other French people towards Algeria.” He also recalled that Algeria “always seeks peaceful coexistence with everyone, but not at the cost of its dignity and history.”
For President Tebboune, “the serious things” are that France comes to repair the consequences of the nuclear tests it carried out in southern Algeria where people are still dying because of its tests. “These are the serious things and not a false debate on the 1968 agreements,” he said, stressing that there is nothing new concerning the issue of French nuclear tests in Algeria.
“If you want to address serious issues, come and clean up the sites where you conducted nuclear experiments. There are still people dying and others are affected. You have become a nuclear power and we have had diseases. Come and clean up Oued Namous, where you developed your chemical weapons. Until now our sheep, our camels are dying after eating contaminated grass. That is the real issue. It does not lie in a false debate on the 1968 agreement,” he said, stressing that there is nothing new regarding the issue of French nuclear tests in Algeria.
Western Sahara
On the other hand, President Tebboune stressed that France’s recognition of what is called “the autonomy plan” as the sole basis for resolving the Western Sahara conflict within the framework of “supposed Moroccan sovereignty” goes against respect for international law and the United Nations Security Council, of which France is a permanent member.
In this regard, he considered that “the public announcement of the approval of ‘autonomy’ while the question of Western Sahara is still before the Decolonization Committee of the Security Council, of which France is a member, reflects a policy of double standards.”
President Tebboune said that France’s support for the Makhzen to seize Western Sahara “is not new, and even the idea of the so-called ‘autonomy plan’ is French and not Moroccan.”
He also noted that the decision to withdraw the Algerian ambassador to Paris has no connection with the visit that was scheduled to France, reaffirming that Algeria “will not go to Canossa.”
