Algeria commemorates 60 years of independence

They all arrived in Algiers on Monday: the President of the Republic of Tunisia, Kaïs Saïed, his Ethiopian counterpart Sahle Work Zewdie, the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, the Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, and the Congolese President Denis Sassou- Nguesso.

All will be present this Tuesday in the gallery of the guests of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence.

After nearly eight years of war between Algerian insurgents and the French army, the Evian Accords of March 18, 1962 paved the way for the proclamation of Algerian independence on July 5 of the same year.

Four days earlier, 94.69% of Algerians approved of this step in a self-determination referendum.

Thus ending 132 years of French domination.

In Paris, on February 19, 1962, the French negotiators of the Evian Accords Robert Buron, Louis Joxe and Jean de Broglie (on the right), leave the Elysée Palace with Prime Minister Michel Debré.

Photo: AFP

These sixty years have been preparing for a long time, with, in particular, a military parade on a main road in Algiers.

The first for 33 years.

Participants must parade on the national road RN 11, approximately from the great mosque Djamaâ El Djazaïr to the city Mokhtar-Zerhouni, a course of about 6 km.

As a precaution, the authorities closed road traffic on Friday evening on a 16 km stretch, where the army was able to carry out final rehearsals in recent days, while huge traffic jams congested Algiers.

Free trains and buses to watch the parade along the route

To ensure the popular success of the parade, the Algerian authorities have set up a free train and bus service which will serve different points along the route.

Water distribution points and public toilets have also been set up.

Because the joy, which must reconcile the country, three years after the violent pro-democracy demonstrations of Hirak, and the fall of President Bouteflika, will be observed with as much interest on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Independence was won after seven and a half years of war that left hundreds of thousands dead.

The wounds remain raw in Algeria as France rules out any "repentance" or "apologies" for its colonial past, although Emmanuel Macron has endeavored since his election to soothe memories with a series of symbolic gestures.

The French head of state commissioned historian Benjamin Stora to report on colonization and the war in Algeria, with around twenty proposals submitted on January 20, 2021.

Read alsoColonization and war in Algeria: what Benjamin Stora recommends to Emmanuel Macron

A few months later, he issued a "pardon" to the address of the harkis "abandoned" by France after the war.

Then, on October 17, he called this fact “inexcusable crimes for the Republic”.

Last January, he described as a "massacre" the shooting of the rue d'Isly in Algiers, in which dozens of supporters of French Algeria were killed by the army in March 1962.

In March, Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared that the memorial file should be approached in a "fair" manner, adding that the "crimes" of French colonization could not be time-barred.

Less than two months ago, while celebrating its first "Memory Day" in tribute to the victims of France's bloody repression of independence demonstrations on May 8, 1945, Algeria once again demanded "repentance" from Paris. for his crimes during colonization.

Algiers still demands the "repentance" of France

Franco-Algerian relations were severely damaged by the "visa crisis" and then in October when Emmanuel Macron affirmed that Algeria had been built after its independence on "a memorial rent", maintained by "the politico-military system ".

It had taken many efforts, and the official visit of Prime Minister Jean Castex to ease the tensions.

The two presidents expressed their desire to "deepen" Franco-Algerian relations during a telephone conversation on June 18.

Monday evening, the French presidency announced that Emmanuel Macron had sent a letter to his Algerian counterpart in which he called for "strengthening the already strong ties" between the two countries.

"He reiterates, moreover, his commitment to continue his process of recognition of the truth and reconciliation of the memories of the Algerian and French peoples", adds the Elysée which specifies that a wreath will be deposited Tuesday in his name at the National Memorial. of the Algerian war, in Paris, in homage to the victims of the massacre of Europeans in Oran, on July 5, 1962.

"Relations between the power system in Algeria and official France have been punctuated by crises and pseudo-reunions since the country's independence", underlines to AFP the president of the opposition party Rassemblement pour la culture et Democracy (RCD), Athmane Mazouz.

“At the current stage, no one can bet a penny to talk about refoundation”.

And to add that “the instrumentalization of this relationship on one side as on the other does not escape anyone”.