ALGIERS —
Algerian President
Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron Saturday declared a “new,
irreversible dynamic of progress” in their nations’ ties, concluding a visit by
Macron aimed at ending months of tensions.
اضافة اعلان
The three-day
visit comes less than two months after Algeria marked six decades of
independence following 132 years of French rule and a devastating eight-year
war.
It also comes as
European powers scramble to replace Russian energy imports — including with
supplies from Algeria, Africa’s top gas exporter, which in turn is seeking to
expand its clout in North Africa and the Sahel.
In their joint
declaration on Saturday, the two leaders said “France and Algeria have decided
to open a new era ... laying the foundation for a renewed partnership expressed
through a concrete and constructive approach, focused on future projects and
youth.”
At the signing ceremony,
Tebboune addressed his guest in French, citing an “excellent, successful visit,
... which allowed for a rapprochement which wouldn’t have been possible without
the personality of President Macron himself”.
Ties between
Paris and Algiers have seen repeated crises over the years.
They had been
particularly cool since last year when Macron questioned Algeria’s existence as
a nation before the French occupation and accused the government of fomenting
“hatred towards France”.
Tebboune withdrew
his country’s ambassador in response and banned French military aircraft from
its airspace.
Normal diplomatic
relations have since resumed, along with overflights to French army bases in
sub-Saharan Africa.
‘Lack of courage’
After vowing to “build a new pact”, Macron was in the spiritual home of
Rai music on Saturday, visiting a record shop made famous by French-Algerian
singer DJ Snake’s recent hit of the same name, “Disco Maghreb”.
He also met
athletes and artists and went for a somewhat chaotic walk in the streets where
police struggled with onlookers trying to shake his hand or take photos.
On Friday
evening, Macron had dinner with Algerian writer Kamel Daoud and other Oran
personalities.
He had also met
young entrepreneurs who quizzed him on the difficulties of getting visas to
France, the decline of the French language in its former colony, and the
contentious issues around the two countries’ painful past.
Macron announced
that an additional 8,000 Algerian students would be admitted to study in France
this year, joining 30,000 already in the country.
He also announced
the creation of a joint commission of historians to examine the colonial period
and the devastating eight-year war that ended it.
But in France,
both left and right-wing politicians were angered by the proposal.
Socialist party
leader Olivier Faure noted that Macron in 2017 had called French colonialism a
“crime against humanity”, then later questioned the existence of Algeria as a
nation prior to the colonial period.
“The lightness
with which he deals with the subject is an insult to wounded memories,” Faure
tweeted.
Far right leader
Thomas Menage tweeted that Algeria should stop “using its past to avoid
establishing true, friendly diplomatic relations”.
Macron’s visit
was not universally welcomed by Algerians either.
“History can’t be
written with lies ... like the one that Algeria was created by France,” read an
editorial in the French-language Le Soir newspaper.
“We expected Macron to
erase this gross untruth during this visit,” it said, criticizing him for a
“lack of courage ... to recognize his own faults and those of his country”.
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