Algeria’s parliament has voted unanimously for a law declaring French colonial rule of the country a crime and demanded an official apology and reparations.
Lawmakers, gathered in parliament adorned with scarves in the colours of the national flag, shouted “vive l'Algérie” on Wednesday as they applauded the approval of the bill, which states that France holds “legal responsibility for its history of colonisation in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”.
A Significant Crisis and a Political Gesture
The two countries are embroiled in a major bilateral dispute and analysts say that while Algeria’s action is mostly gestural, it is still a major political statement.
“an unambiguous signal, both domestically and externally, that the nation's historical memory is neither erasable nor negotiable.”
The legislation lists the “crimes of French colonisation”, which encompass nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “torture” and the “systematic plundering of resources”.
Call for Reparations
It asserts that “complete and just compensation for all physical and psychological damages caused by colonial rule is an fundamental entitlement of the state and people”.
French governance over Algeria from 1830 until independence was a era characterized by widespread deaths and forced displacements, culminating in the violent independence war from 1954 to 1962.
- Algeria states the war claimed 1.5 million people.
- Historians in France estimate the fatalities at 500,000 in all, four hundred thousand of them Algerian.
French Response and Historical Perspective
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has in the past acknowledged the colonial era of Algeria as a “grave injustice” but has declined to offer an apology.
Questioned recently about the vote, a diplomatic representative stated he would not discuss “internal political matters taking place in foreign countries”.
Hosni Kitouni in colonial history, said that “from a legal standpoint, this law has little international force and therefore is not binding for the French state”. However, “its political and symbolic importance is considerable: it signifies a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory,” he said.
