French President Emmanuel Macron believes that he does not have to “apologize” to Algeria for colonization, but hopes to receive his counterpart Abdelmajid Tebboune in France in 2023 to continue the work of memory and reconciliation between the two countries.
“I don’t have to apologize, that’s not the point, the word would break all ties,” he explains in a long interview with the Algerian writer Kamel Daoud to the French weekly. Point Posted Wednesday night. “The worst thing would be to conclude: ‘We apologize and each one goes his way,’” he says. “The work of memory and history is not a balance of all accounts,” he continues.
“It is, on the contrary, to maintain that there is something unspeakable, something misunderstood, something undecidable perhaps, something unforgivable,” he stresses.
A visit from the Algerian president in 2023?
The issue of apologies is at the center of the bilateral relationship and of the recurring tensions between the two countries. In 2020, Algeria had recently welcomed a report by French historian Benjamin Stora advocating a series of gestures to try to reconcile the two countries, while excluding “repentance” and “apologies”.
“I also hope that President Tebboune can come to France in 2023,” says Emmanuel Macron, to continue “an unprecedented work of friendship (…)” after the visit he himself made to Algeria in August 2022.
Asked about the possibility of a meditation ceremony for the Algerian president on the graves of the members of Abdelkader’s entourage, heroes of the resistance to French colonization, buried in Amboise, he considered that it would be “a very beautiful and very strong moment” and that “I wanted it.”
“I think it will make sense in the history of the Algerian people. For the French people, it will be an opportunity to understand realities that are often hidden,” he reiterated. Abdel Kader (1808-1883) was detained in Amboise with various members of his family between 1848 and 1852.
“You have to know how to stretch out your hand”
President Macron’s trip to Algiers in August put the bilateral relationship back on track after a crisis linked to some comments he made in October 2021. The head of state then criticized the Algerian “political-military system” for navigating the “income of memory” and had wondered about the existence of an Algerian nation before colonization.
“It can be a clumsy phrase that could hurt,” acknowledges Emmanuel Macron. But “these moments of tension teach us,” he adds, “you have to know how to stretch out your hand.”
Emmanuel Macron also calls for the “appeasement” of tensions between Algeria and Morocco, the two rival powers in the region. He says that he does not believe in a war between these neighbors, while pointing out “the speculation of some, the fantasy of others and even the will to war of some.”
Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021, accusing Rabat of “hostile acts”. A “totally unjustified” decision, according to Rabat.
Source: BFM TV
