Algeria-France: “Those who look in the mirror are wrong†(Pierre Lellouche)
French State Secretary for Trade Pierre Lellouche said Monday in Algiers that “those who look in the mirror are wrongâ€, inaugurating a partnership and business forum of nearly 700 companies to turn†a new page “in Franco-Algerian relations.
- Political observers here in Algiers note to this effect that such an untoward declaration is widely seen as a glaring offence to many Algerians who don’t want to forget the horrendous atrocities and crimes committed by French colonialism during the occupation of Algeria from 1830 to 1962 in memory of the 1.5 million lofty Algerian Martyrs who laid down their lives for Algeria’s hard-won independence.
- They firmly argue that official France should express a formal apology to all Algerians for all the horrible crimes and misdeeds perpetrated by the then French colonial yoke in Algeria before the sealing of this burning file between the two countries.
- The same observers also point to the baffling lack of any official reaction from the Algerian government to Lellouche’s offending remarks made on Algerian soil in blatant defiance of all diplomatic rules and procedures.
- This is unfortunately a bitter remake of the most offending statement made by former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner several years ago during President Sarkozy’s official visit to Algeria in a reaction to a just and legitimate declaration to the press made by the Algerian Mudjahidine or war veterans’ minister about the most somber past of colonial France in Algeria.