The Head of State’s speech was eagerly awaited, after the storm caused by his remarks as a candidate in 2017 on “colonization, a crime against humanity”. Emmanuel Macron continues his efforts to “appease” the memories of the war in Algeria with a strong gesture addressed to the black feet on Wednesday January 26, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the end of this conflict which continues to divide the French. In a speech at the Élysée, the Head of State expressed “the gratitude” of France towards repatriates from Algeria and recognized two “massacres” which occurred after the signing of the Evian agreements of March 19, 1962, in Algiers and Oran.
>> Algerian War: Emmanuel Macron has the “willingness to work on this recognition and this memorial appeasement”, greets a historian
After Emmanuel Macron’s speech, Robert Ménard had tears in his eyes, confessing “touch”. The mayor of Béziers, support of Marine le Pen, was born in Oran in 1953: “For us, black feet, it’s important. I’ve heard the words I’ve never heard.” Words, in particular, on the shooting of the street of Isly, on March 26, 1962, when the French army fired on partisans of French Algeria, in Algiers. “unpardonable crime”, said Emmanuel Macron.
Algiers is where the essayist Danielle Michel-Chiche was born and grew up, victim of an attack by the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). “It’s an important gesture”, she comments. She also remembers the words of the Head of State on the Oran massacre. “When the French army, on the command of the President of the Republic at the time, does not go to the aid of these citizens who are being slaughtered in the streets, it is also an important act. And that is passed on July 5 in Oran.”
Jean-Félix Vallat, president of an association of returnees which claims 3,500 members, saw “his father and his mother murdered, slaughtered” before him by the FLN. “Since his election, all the gestures he has made have been towards people close to the FLN. A lot of ground remains to be done, but the step of rebalancing memory today is very important for us”, he greets. One “memory rebalancing” still just as sensitive: other association representatives boycotted the meeting.