An the day after the publication of the report by historian Benjamin Stora on “memorial issues relating to colonization and the Algerian war”, no official reaction was recorded in Algiers. Only press titles have taken up the subject, some of which have expressed their disappointment at the refusal of Paris to go in the direction of repentance and apologies. For the conservative daily Echourouk, “President Macron does not keep his promises [en refusant les excuses] which he had held in Algiers during his visit as a candidate ”. Allusion made to the declaration, in 2017, of Emmanuel Macron, then a candidate visiting Algiers, qualifying colonization as a “crime against humanity”.
“Repentance”, a requirement
For Free Midi, “This position will only reinforce the demands of the Algerian people who, for their part, stick to the demand for the presentation by France of its apologies for the crimes committed during colonization. Some in Algeria consider that the repentance of France is the sine qua non for boosting relations between the two countries ”.
In July 2020, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune estimated, on France 24, that Algeria “has already received a half-apology. We must take another step […] We wish it […] This will help to calm the climate and make it more peaceful for economic relations, for cultural relations, for neighborly relations ”.
University professor Kamel Khelil explains about the columns ofEl Khabar that “these measures [les préconisations du rapport Stora] remain symbolic and remain far removed from the demands of the Algerian people who give great importance to the issue of apologies, in particular on nuclear tests and their consequences, and the file of the missing ”. El Khabar claims that 3,000 Algerians were killed by French paratroopers during the Battle of Algiers in 1957 and their remains are still untraceable.
“Take the same step that Germany took towards France”
“This is a selective report, not very detailed, as if the Elysee wanted to quickly get rid of the memory question in any way”, regrets the historian Mebarek Djaafri of the University of Adrar, questioned by El Khabar. El Khabar who goes into details, regretting that the Strora report, which called for the official recognition of the assassination of nationalist lawyer Ali Boumendjel in 1957, does not mention the case of Larbi Ben M’hidi, one of the historical “Six” trigger of the war of independence, executed by the men of General Aussaresses during the terrible “Battle of Algiers”.
Same skepticism with historian Mohamed El-Korso, who, in the newspaper Freedom, explains that “to achieve a real healthy and calm dialogue, capable of moving things forward, France would have to recognize clearly and frankly that there has been a crime against humanity”. “It is for her to take the same step that Germany took towards France, by acknowledging its crimes during the Second World War. I think it is damaging that France, which apologized to the Jews, does not apologize to the Algerians, ”he continues.
The challenge of 2022
For the journalist and political analyst Fayçal Métaoui, “the French historian Benjamin Stora did not respond to the requests expressed by Algiers, namely: recognition of colonial crimes and official apologies, total restitution of archives and cultural property, reparation and compensation to the victims of nuclear tests in southern Algeria, recognition of the enforced disappearance of Algerians who fought colonialism and full restitution of the mortuary remains of Algerian resistance fighters ”.
“At a time when difficult elections are being played out in France [la présidentielle de 2022], I do not see how President Emmanuel Macron or another could upset part of the public without, at the same time, paying him politically. The question of the colonial past thus turns out to be infinitely more problematic for France than for Algeria ”, analysis in Freedom another historian, Kitouni Hosni. The historian recalls “the existence of several million French descendants of parents attached to the colonies, for whom decolonization was a tragedy”, and concludes: “We therefore understand how it is almost impossible for any political power to take the risk. to go against the tendency of the majority of public opinion. ”
How will Algiers respond?
But for the editorial writer of Freedom, it is not enough to criticize the French approach. We should also ask ourselves what official Algeria has done with this tumultuous history. “Beyond these contingencies, the proposals practice to settle this question of memory which should naturally orphan the rentiers of history and the nostalgic for the old episodes of their life, one cannot lose sight of the need, to use familiar terminology, to sweep in front of one’s door. And to put an end to the vulgar commercial use of history, which often resembles an abuse of weakness that revolves around falsely patriotic arguments. ”
All eyes are now on the Algerian side. How will Algiers react officially, or, at least, Abdelmadjid Chikhi, director of the National Archives, advisor to President Tebboune, who was appointed to follow, on the Algerian side, the file in parallel with the Stora mission? “Mr. Chikhi will speak once he has officially received Mr. Stora’s report,” an official source explains. Where is it in its mission, what would be its contribution to the memorial file? For the moment, no details are given. At the end of October 2020, Abdelmadjid Chikhi had just indicated that he had made contact twice with Benjamin Stora, but that “the work has still not started solemnly” because of “the expansion of the Covid-19 which still prevents the holding a direct meeting with Mr. Stora and the establishment of a common action plan ”.
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