France Returns to Algeria 22 Diplomatic Document Boxes from the Colonial Period

France has returned to Algeria 22 boxes of copies of French diplomatic documents covering the period ranging from 1954 to 1962.

This restitution was the fruit of the sustained endeavor of a working group between the two countries, which met six times under the co-directors of French and Algerian archives.

Indeed, according to a statement from the Embassy of France, Ambassador Bernard Emié, High Representative of the French Republic in Algeria, presented on June 21, Mr. Abdelmajid Chikhi, director of the National Archives of Algeria, with 22 French diplomatic documents of volumes of copies covering the period ranging from 1954 to 1962. 

These returned copies put into perspective the events that occurred during the liberation war of Algeria and relate to developments in the foreign policy of France at that time.

This restitution is part of the peaceful and trustful dialogue engaged with Algeria on the issue of Archives dialogue initiated following the state visit of President of the Republic François Hollande to Algeria in December 2012. 

A bilateral working group has indeed been set up and has met six times under the co-directors of two national archives in France and Algeria. The next working session is scheduled from July 19 to 21 in Algeria.

This restitution also follows the January visit of the Minister of Moujahidin or war veterans Tayeb Zitouni, a first of the like since the country’s independence in 1962 which was devoted to three important issues: the disappeared people during the Revolution, the question related to the compensation of victims of nuclear tests in the Sahara and the Algerian archives.

Mr Zitouni was emphatic in declaring that Algeria “would not forego claims on recovery of the archives of different and popular uprisings against the occupying French soldiery,” recalling for this purpose the establishment of a joint commission split into several subcommittees in charge of examining technical issues pertaining to the recovery of Algeria’s archives.

It should be noted that nearly 600 tons of archives were transferred to France in 1962, and more than 200,000 archive boxes containing priceless documents on the colonial period were illegally transferred by the French authorities in Algeria between 1961 and 1962 with most of them having been transferred to the Archives Centre of Aix-en-Provence in southern France.