Algeria declares French colonial rule a crime, demands apology, reparations

Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune

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Algeria’s parliament has unanimously passed a law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime, escalating tensions between the two nations and renewing demands for an official apology and reparations, The Guardian reported.

The vote took place on Wednesday in Algiers, where lawmakers stood in the chamber wearing scarves in the colours of the national flag and chanted “long live Algeria” as they applauded the bill’s adoption.

The legislation states that France holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused.”

The move comes amid a deepening diplomatic crisis between Algiers and Paris.

The speaker of parliament, Ibrahim Boughali, said the vote would send “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable,” according to the state news agency APS.

The law formally lists what it describes as the “crimes of French colonisation”, including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “physical and psychological torture” and the “systematic plundering of resources”.

It also stated that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people”.

France ruled Algeria from 1830 until 1962, a period marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, culminating in the war of independence between 1954 and 1962. Algeria says the conflict killed 1.5 million people, while French historians estimate a total death toll of about 500,000, including 400,000 Algerians.

French President Emmanuel Macron has previously described the colonisation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity” but has stopped short of issuing a formal apology.

Asked last week about the parliamentary vote in Algiers, the French foreign ministry spokesperson, Pascal Confavreux, said he would not comment on “political debates taking place in foreign countries.”

Hosni Kitouni, a researcher in colonial history at the University of Exeter, said the legislation would not have legal force beyond Algeria.

“Legally, this law has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France,” he said. However, he added that “its political and symbolic significance is important: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory.”

The PUNCH journalist, Gift, has over three years of experience covering elections, security and foreign affairs.

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