Mujahidine Minister: France will recognize, “sooner or later” the hideous French colonial crimes perpetrated in Algeria

Algerian Mujahideen or war veterans Minister Tayeb Zitouni, said Thursday in Algiers that France will recognize, “sooner or later”, the hideous French colonial crimes perpetrated against the Algerian people during the long drawn-out colonial era.

France “will admit sooner or later the horrendous French colonial crimes perpetrated in Algeria”, Mr. Zitouni told the press on the sidelines of the plenary session of the Council of the Nation or upper house of parliament devoted to the oral questions.

“We will forward the message from generation to generation (…) just as we are proud of our valiant ancestors”, he said in response to a question about the latest statements made by French president François Hollande who denied the genocidal nature of the brutal 132-year long French colonial yoke in Algeria.

The Mujahidine minister further announced the planned holding on 4th and 5th of next May in the city of Oran in western Algeria of a broad-based conference shedding light on the systematic use of torture by the then occupation French soldiery against the people of Algeria during the somber colonial era, stressing that this meeting is part of ongoing efforts to publicize the appalling tragedies endured by the Algerians at this time of history.

Mr Tayeb Zitouni also referred to the recent visit paid to Algeria by the French State Secretary for war veterans and memory, Jean Marc Todeschini, describing it as a “significant” but “insufficient” initiative.

He recalled in this connection, the odious massacres committed by France in Algeria during and before the Revolution including the heart-rending massacres of May 8, 1945 in the eastern cities of Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata as well as the nefarious after-effects of the French nuclear testing in the Algerian Sahara near Reggane and the untold human tragedies generated by the infamous “Challe and Morice” electrified line set up by the French colonial forces.