Laid Rebigua: Algerian State Determined to Obtain All Digital Copies of Archives in France

The joint committee of Algerian and French historians will have “an important role in developing a common vision for all files related to the national memory”, the Minister of Mujahideen (war veterans) and People with Rights, Laid Rebigua, said.

The work of this committee, which includes five Algerian historians who were recently received by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune – the minister added – will deal with “addressing all issues related to opening and restoring archives and property, retrieving the skulls of the martyrs of the popular resistance, and examining the files of the victims of nuclear tests and the missing.”

In an interview with APS, on the anniversary of the protests of December 11, 1960, he mentioned the results reached by the Algerian-French joint scientific committee charged with identifying the skulls of Algerians at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, after the recovery of 24 skulls of the heroes of the popular resistance in July 2020, confirming that the Algerian state is determined to “acquire all digital copies of the Algerian archives for the period 1830-1962.”

In this context, he asserted that “giving attention to memory in all its files and topics in this particular circumstance is a sacred national duty to preserve our national identity and immunize generations with historical awareness.”

In the context of his speech, the minister explained that “the most important indicator that can be relied upon to highlight the state’s determination to move forward in the endeavour to perpetuate the sacrifices of the righteous martyrs and protect the national memory, is the instructions of the President of the Republic to establish a committee of historians to study the memory file, away from the political relations between Algeria and France, and his confirmation of the importance of carrying out this file with the utmost seriousness and perseverance”.

He expressed his certainty that the statements of the President of the Republic “were clear in this regard, especially when he affirmed that Algeria’s dealing with the files of history and memory should be in the spirit of responsibility required by the objective and impartial treatment of the issue to link the present with the past and foresee the future through the communication of generations within the major determinants of identity and the components of the national identity.”