French government official recognizes brutal nature of French colonialism in Algeria but refrained from apology for its hideous misdeeds
Mr. Jean-Marc Todeschini, French Secretary of State to the Minister of Defense for Veterans Affairs and Memory, paid a visit to Algeria from 19 and 20 April 2015.
This visit, which took place just days before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of May 8, 1945 French colonial massacres of around 45.000 peaceful Algerians in the eastern part of the country was marked by a remembrance ceremony held at the memorial stella “Saad Bouzid” attended for the first time by a French government member who travelled to the eastern city of Setif specifically for this purpose.
In a statement made during the Sétif ceremony, the French government official acknowledged the brutal nature of the 132-year long French colonial yoke in Algeria and the untold pain and suffering it inflicted on the Algerian people but he stopped short of an official apology for this hideous French colonial past.
It should be recalled that during his last state visit several years ago to Algeria, French President François Hollande acknowledged the “unjust” and “brutal” nature of France’s occupation of Algeria for 132 years, but stopped short of apologizing for the somber past as Algerians have demanded.
“History, even when it is tragic, even when it is painful for our two countries, must be told,” French President Hollande then told Algerian lawmakers in a speech delivered before the two houses of Parliament. “For 132 years, Algeria was subjected to a profoundly unjust and brutal system” of colonization, he pointed out.
“I recognize here the suffering that French colonization has inflicted on the Algerian people,” he added.
During his activities as part of his visit to Algeria, Mr Todeschini was received by several Algerian officials including the Mudjahidine or war veterans minister Mr Zitouni. He’s slated to visit the naval cemetery of Mers-el-Kebir and the French military cemetery of “Little Lake” in the western city of Oran.
He’ll visit the service of veterans and war victims of Algiers located in Telemly district, and will lay a wreath at the cemetery of Bologhine district west of Algiers and will have an exchange at the Alexandre Dumas International School with a group of students who put together an educational project on “Algeria in the Great War.”
Mr Todeschini will also bestow the “Legion of Honour” medal upon six Algerian veterans of the Second World War.