Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Saturday July 4 that he would await an apology from France for the colonization of Algeria and estimated that his counterpart Emmanuel Macron was " someone very honest ", likely to contribute to this climate of appeasement. Asked during an interview with the international channel France 24 about possible excuses from Paris, he replied: “ We have already received half-excuses. We must take another step (...) We want to . ”
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" This will make it possible to calm the climate and make it more serene for economic relations, for cultural relations, for neighborly relations ", he continues by recalling that more than six million Algerians live in France and that they " can take something there and here ".
France made a strong gesture of appeasement in terms of memory by restoring Friday the remains of 24 Algerian fighters killed at the start of French colonization in the 19th century. This restitution offers a relaxation in the relations between Algeria and the old colonial power, marked since independence in 1962 by recurrent polemics and tensions. " I find that with President Macron we can go far in appeasement, in solving the memory problem ," said President Tebboune.
During a visit to Algiers in December 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron undertook to return the Algerian human remains stored at the Musée de l'Homme. The same year, but before his election, he called the colonization of Algeria in Algiers a " crime against humanity ".
The memory issue remains at the heart of volatile relations between France and Algeria, where the perception is that France is not doing enough to settle its colonial past.