"I don't have to ask for forgiveness, that's not the point, the word would break all ties
," said Emmanuel Macron in a long interview with Algerian writer Kamel Daoud in the French weekly
Le Point
published on Wednesday .
evening.
"The worst would be to conclude: 'We apologize and everyone goes their own way',"
he said.
"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 unqualifiable, something misunderstood, something undecidable perhaps, something unforgivable
,” he underlines.
“Often hidden realities”
The issue of apologies is at the heart of the bilateral relationship and recurring tensions between the two countries.
In 2020, Algeria had freshly 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 will be able to come to France in 2023"
, notes Emmanuel Macron, in order to continue
"an unprecedented work of friendship (..)"
after the visit he himself made in Algeria in August 2022.
Read alsoAlgerian War: "Emmanuel Macron opens the museum of the horrors of history"
Asked about the possibility of a ceremony of meditation by the Algerian president at the graves of members of Abdelkader's suite, 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 he
“wished for it”
.
“I believe 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 said again.
Abdel Kader (1808-1883) was detained in Amboise with several members of his family from 1848 to 1852.
"Memorial rent"
President Macron's trip to Algiers in August put the bilateral relationship back on track after a crisis linked to comments he made in October 2021. The head of state then blamed the
"politico-military system
Algerian to surf on the
"
memory rent"
and had wondered about the existence of an Algerian nation before colonization.
"It may be a clumsy sentence that could hurt
," concedes Emmanuel Macron.
But
“these moments of tension teach us”
, he adds,
“you have to know how to stretch out your hand”.
Read alsoAlgeria: the unsaid of Emmanuel Macron's trip
Emmanuel Macron also calls for
the "appeasement"
of tensions between Algeria and Morocco, the two rival powers in the region.
He says he does not believe in a war between these neighbors, while noting
"speculation among some, fantasy among others and even the will to war among some".
Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021, accusing Rabat of
"hostile acts"
.
A
"completely unjustified"
decision , according to Rabat.
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