Algeria / France / Colonialism

"France's President Francois Hollande gives a speech at the Palais des Nations in Algiers on the second day of a two-day official visit, December 20, 2012." (Louafi Larbi/Reuters)

French Colonization of Algeria "Brutal": Hollande
By Julien Ponthus and John Irish
Reuters dispatch, December 20, 2012
"President Francois Hollande acknowledged on Thursday that France's colonization of Algeria had been 'brutal and unfair' but stopped short of making an apology to the oil-rich North African state which Paris sees as a major trading partner. With France's own economy spluttering, Hollande had hoped his visit would not only strengthen trade ties but improve security cooperation, as Paris pushes for intervention against Islamists who have seized control of northern Mali. [...] Hollande's comments on the 1954-1962 Algerian war, which ended in Algerian independence and France's withdrawal, are likely to be carefully analyzed for signs they could help remove lingering resentment about the conflict in both countries, a legacy that has held back a trading partnership which Paris hopes could revive the Mediterranean basin's economic fortunes. 'For 132 years, Algeria was subjected to a brutal and unfair system: colonization. I acknowledge the suffering it caused,' Hollande told the Algerian parliament on the second day of his visit. Seeking to strike a more conciliatory stance than his conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy whom Algerians viewed as overly hostile towards their country because of what they regarded as his tough immigration policies, Hollande tried to take a nuanced approach. 'We respect the act of memory, of all the memories. There is a duty of truth on the violence, the injustices, the massacres and the torture,' he said. But the 58-year-old Hollande had limited room for maneuver.
A formal apology for France's colonial past is a sensitive issue. Many French citizens who lived there before independence and who fought in the French army against Algerian insurgents oppose the idea, as do former loyalist Muslim volunteers known as 'harkis'. 'I am not forgetting the French of Algeria,' he said, calling on archives from both countries to be made available to reveal the truth of the era. He made no mention of the harkis. In his previous role as Socialist party leader he had said in 2006 that France should apologize to the Algerian people, but on Thursday he appeared to go as far as he felt he could. Algerian political analyst Farid Ferrahi said that Hollande's visit had been preceded by a lot of hype but had failed to deliver as much as it had promised. 'Normalizing relations with France won't get done with a single visit,' Ferrahi said. [...]"