Mudjahidine Minister: “Relations with France won’t be excellent unless France recognizes its colonial crimes in Algeria”

Mr Tayeb Zitouni, Minister of the Mujahideen or War Veterans has revealed the setting up of a joint Algerian-French committee in charge of addressing the pending files related to the missing people, as well as to the nefarious French nuclear explosions of Reggane (southern Algeria) and to the National Archives dating back to the national liberation war against the then French colonial yoke.

Mr Zitouni however underlined that the Algerian-French relations won’t become excellent unless the memory file is settled for good with France officially recognizing and confessing to all its hideous crimes committed by the French soldiery during all the colonization period in Algeria.

“In other words, time will come when France will formally recognize its crimes. Sooner or later, France will have to acknowledge the heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity that it committed in Algeria during 132 years” he said.

The two countries, he went on to say, should give due importance to the important question of memory through a responsible reading. “Noting that his recent visit to France was part of the confidence building endeavour between the two countries, the Mudjahidine minister said that “the Algerian-French relations are witnessing a significant enhancement on the political, economic, industrial, trade and cultural plans.”

Mr Tayeb Zitouni, however, warned against the neglect of the paramount issue of memory which, he said, “could harm the image of the strong relations between the two countries.