French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed he would not ask Algerians for “forgiveness” for France’s colonization of their country in statements he made in an interview with the French magazine Le Point, acknowledging that there are things about it that could be unforgivable. “In the interview, Macron hoped to receive Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Paris this year to continue working with him on the cause of remembrance and reconciliation between the two countries. That word would sever all ties.” explained that “the worst thing that can happen is to say: ‘We apologize, and each of us will go our own way,'” emphasizing that “the work of memory and history is not an abstract calculation, but quite the opposite.” “means the recognition that there are things that cannot be described, things that cannot be understood, things that cannot be proven, things that cannot be forgiven.”
The question of France’s apologies for its colonial past in Algeria (1830-1962) is at the heart of bilateral relations and recurring tensions between the two countries. Reconciliation between the two countries, and the report was devoid of any recommendation to apologize or express remorse, to which constantly calls Algiers.
In his interview, the French president said: “I hope that President Tebboune will be able to come to France in 2023 to continue the unprecedented friendship after Macron’s own visit to Algeria in August 2022.
In response to a question about whether Tebbun’s upcoming visit to France could include the participation of the invited president in a ceremony honoring Prince Abdelkader of Algiers at the cemetery of heroes of the resistance to colonialism in the city of Amboise (southwest of Paris), Macron said: the matter would be “moment”. Very beautiful and very strong,” he added, “I hope it happens.”
Macron believed that holding these ceremonies “will have a meaning in the history of the Algerian people, and for the French people, an opportunity to understand the truths that are often hidden.” Amboise with many members of his family from 1848 to 1852
Macron doubled down on initiatives in the dossier of remembrance, acknowledging the responsibility of the French army for the murder of mathematician Maurice Auden and the national jurist Ali Boumangel during the “Battle of Algiers” in 1957 and condemning the “unjustified crimes” committed by the French army during the massacre of Algerian demonstrators in Paris 17 October 1961, but the apology Algeria had been waiting for for its colonization never came, frustrating Macron’s initiatives and increasing the misunderstanding between the two sides.
Macron’s trip to Algiers in August helped get bilateral relations back on track after the crisis triggered by statements by the French president in October 2021 in which he accused the Algerian “military-political system” of creating a “memory rent” and also questioned the existence of the Algerian nation before colonialism.
In an interview with Le Point, Macron acknowledged the fallacy of his statements and said: “Perhaps this is a clumsy phrase and it could hurt the feelings of the Algerians”, while thinking at the same time that “these moments of tension teach us, you must be able to reach out again.”
Macron also called for a “calming down” of tensions between Algeria and Morocco by ruling out the outbreak of war between the two sworn neighbors. Algeria severed diplomatic relations between it and Morocco in August 2021, accusing Rabat of committing “hostile acts”, which Rabat considered “completely unjustified.”