Algeria celebrated Tuesday with great fanfare, with a military parade of unprecedented scale, the 60th anniversary of its independence after 132 years of French colonization, the memory of which still strains its relations with Paris.
After nearly eight years of war between Algerian insurgents and the French army, the guns fell silent on March 18, 1962 under the terms of the historic Évian Accords, paving the way for Algeria’s proclamation of independence on March 5 July of the same year, approved a few days earlier by 99.72% of the votes during a self-determination referendum.
After laying a wreath at the Martyrs’ Sanctuary in Algiers, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune standing in a car with an open roof in the company of the army chief of staff, General Saïd Chanegriha, reviewed units from several security services before kicking off the military parade.
At the same time, cannons fired sixty rounds to mark the occasion.
The nearly two-hour show began with an open flypast by a formation of six L-39 training jets, which painted the sky green, red and white, the colors of the Algerian flag. .
An Il-76 transport plane then carried out a mid-air refueling, escorted by two Su-30 fighters.
President Tebboune watched the parade from a podium surrounded by his government and several foreign guests, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Tunisian President Kais Saied.
“Tanks and Submarines”
The various units of the Algerian army, including horsemen from the Republican Guard, but also police and civil protection agents, then paced along the road adjoining the great mosque of Algiers to music and in quick step, followed by hundreds of tanks and other armored vehicles.
Helicopters and airplanes — including Mig-25s and Su-24s — flew over the bay of Algiers.
Russian S-300 and Pantsir S-1 air defense systems, modernized T-62 and T-90 tanks, as well as drones also participated in the parade.
At sea, several warships and two submarines, Ouancharis and Djudjura, which surfaced in the Bay of Algiers, also took part in the parade.
This military parade comes in a context of strong tensions with Morocco, with which Algiers broke diplomatic relations in August due to deep disagreements over the disputed territory of Western Sahara and the security rapprochement between Rabat and Israel.
Algeria wrested its independence from France after seven and a half years of war that left hundreds of thousands dead.
But 60 years after the end of colonization, the wounds remain raw in Algeria as France rules out any “repentance” or “apologies”, although French President Emmanuel Macron has endeavored since his election to soothe memories with a series of symbolic gestures.
“Reconciliation of Memories”
The bilateral relationship seemed to have bottomed out in October when Mr. Macron claimed that Algeria had been built after independence on “a memory rent”, maintained by “the politico-military system”, arousing ire from Algiers.
On Monday evening, the French presidency announced that Mr Macron had sent a letter to his Algerian counterpart on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of independence, in which he called for the “strengthening of already strong ties” between the two countries.
“He reiterates, moreover, his commitment to continue his process of recognition of the truth and reconciliation of the memories of the Algerian and French peoples”, adds the Elysée, which specifies that a wreath will be deposited Tuesday in his name at the Memorial national of the Algerian war, in Paris, in homage to the victims of the massacre of Europeans in Oran, July 5, 1962.
Domestically, the government took advantage of the anniversary to try to ease tensions, three years after being shaken by the pro-democracy demonstrations of Hirak.
In May, Mr. Tebboune launched an initiative to break the political immobility by receiving in turn several leaders of political parties, including the opposition, and officials of trade unions and employers’ organisations.