Between Paris and Algiers, the impossible reconciliation?

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The two French military planes which were to reach Mali on Sunday October 3 were not authorized to fly over Algerian territory. One of them even had to turn around: the ban fell at the last moment. A source at the General Staff of the Armed Forces assures that the flight plans will be adapted and that the logistical disruptions will remain minor: no impact on the capacity of France to fight against the jhadists in the Sahel. But on the diplomatic level, this is a strong signal.

Algiers has already summoned the French ambassador and recalled its own ambassador. The authorities do not digest either the reduction in visas imposed last week (specifically on the leaders), or the recent words of Emmanuel Macron, made in front of young descendants of protagonists of the War of Independence, grandsons of Pieds-Noirs, soldiers, harkis, FLN activists and Algerian Jews.

The Head of State explained without any ambiguity, as reported by Le Monde, that the speech “official“Algerian was built on”a hatred of France” and “the politico-military system“in power maintained the memorial rent. Proposal not denied by the Elysee and judged”irresponsible“by the main concerned. Emmanuel Macron even wondered whether there was”an Algerian nation“before colonization.

This is undoubtedly what the French president calls “look history in the face“. In fact, he There is consensus on the fact that the regime exploits this “memory rent”. Except that no French president had said it in such clear terms.

To find a quarrel of such magnitude between Paris and Algiers, we have to go back to 2005, the year when the French Parliament adopted a law recognizing “the positive role of colonization”. Before being repealed, this text caused the cancellation of a Treaty of friendship, however, carried by the two presidents of the time, Jacques Chirac and Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

This crisis could last. “Algerian-French relations seem to have already entered a critical phase (…). Between Algiers and Paris, now reigns an unprecedented crisis“, writes the daily Le Soir d’Algérie.

However, Emmanuel Macron recently made gestures of appeasement. He wants to be the actor in the overhaul of the Franco-Algerian relationship, in particular because Algeria is an important partner in the regional crises in Libya and the Sahel.

But for that we must first resolve the conflict of memory. The Head of State has been working on it since the start of his five-year term with very concrete actions: the opening of the archives, the recognition of the responsibility of the French army in the death of Ali Boumendjel, the launch of the supposed Stora report. work for reconciliation – and remained without echo.

But the line of the Élysée is the recognition of the facts. No “repentance“neither of”apologies“As claimed by Algiers, which looks at all these initiatives with skepticism. Faced with the absence of a respondent, Emmanuel Macron must record the failure of this reconciliation. The subject remains ultra-sensitive … And the slightest incident serves as a trigger.

Why are tensions resuming today? After the affair of the submarines, after Mali (where the authorities want to bring the Russians into the game if France withdraws), Emmanuel Macron undoubtedly wants to raise the tone.

But there is also the Algerian context. Because we are approaching the 60th anniversary of independence in 2022. Because the Algerian authorities are faced with a political impasse after the repression of the Hirak, the popular uprising. However, summoning the ghosts of colonization is a recurring instrument of diversion. Especially since the tensions with France represent “the” subject on which the Algerian authorities can hope to unite a large part of the population.


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