Bernard Kouchner: “France Should Recognize Horrible Crimes In Algeria”

French former Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, abandoned his stance against any recognition of the crimes of France in Algeria, saying in an interview to the newspaper “Al Quds Al Arabi”, on Saturday, that France “committed horrible crimes in Algeria and should admit it”.

Kouchner told the Arab famous newspaper: “It is true that France has committed horrible crimes in Algeria, and it should admit it, because there are events and facts that can not be denied”.

This comes after Kouchner refuses to talk in this file during the government of the former President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and even he was known at the time with the famous statements like, “We will improve the relationship between France and Algeria when the November generation will disappear”, meaning the Mujahideen (war veterans) who dragged France from Algeria by force of arms.

Kouchner’s changing position following the “intransigence” over the colonial past in Algeria, raised questions about the reasons that led him to this step, amid the French elections great time!? Is Kouchner looking, for example, for a posit in Macron’s government, if he will be elected President of the French Republic, especially as he told the “Al Quds AlArabi” newspaper that he would vote for Macron and praised him with good descriptions.

Kouchner, added in his interview for “Al Quds Al Arabi,: “However; I refuse this characterization (horrible crimes), and I think that Macron was not successful in the expression he used. If it was not a slip of the tongue, because of an excessive zeal, it is an attempt to woo the French voters of Algerian origins. He can not handle this kind of sensitive files, and this history which is full of wounds and pains, through statements with unintended consequences”.

“France does not have the courage to admit all the crimes it committed during the colonial era, because the successive governments were not brave to do so, and if it did, this will improve relationships between the two countries, and the people of the third and fourth generations of the French from Algerian origins will feel that France respects the country of their parents and grandparents. The successive French governments did not dare to close this file once and for all, as the rest of the other countries, such as Britain. but I think that a joint responsibility between France on the one hand, and the Algerian regime on the other hand, which has never worked to close this file, in order to start a new relationship that is based on mutual respect”.

Perhaps Kouchner refers to the refusal of Algeria to abandon its right to claim for recognition, apology and compensation.