Will Algerian Authorities Normalize Relationships With The Pieds-Noirs

Algeria Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, talked about the involvement of the Pieds Noirs in strengthening the national economy by calling them for encouraging the entry of Algerian exports to the European and French markets particularly, but his talk raised large controversy because of the tense historical relationships between the Algerians and this category during the colonial era.

Ouyahia’s statement is the first of its kind for an Algerian official, which raises more than a question about the stability of Algeria’s position from this category, which many of its elements stood against Algeria’s independence, and even its icons created the so-called the “secret army organization”, which is a terrorist organisation that is known to the Algerians as the OAS, and which, as everyone knows, was involved in massacres against Algerians after the cease-fire on March 19, 1962.

Ouyahia’s made this unprecedented statement following his visit to France, as he was sent by President Bouteflika to attend an “international meeting on Libya”, and he was received by the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

Although the Evian Agreements, under which France recognized the independence of Algeria, provided for the right of the Pieds Noirs to remain in Algeria after 1962 and to retain property that they seized during the colonial era, but the vast majority fled from Algeria under various circumstances, while the main reason was their fear of retaliation by the Algerians for their brutal practices and their cooperation with the occupation army before and during the liberation revolution.

Remnants of the “Pieds Noirs” still insist on returning to Algeria and consider it a natural and legal right, and they also demand the return of what they claim to be their property which they left behind after they fled and left it after independence, contrary to the Evian agreements, and the case of the singer “Enrico Macias” remains the most striking example of the controversy of the return of Pieds Noirs.

To this day, the Pieds Noirs continue to organize protests and rallies to demand the “right of return”, and they are organized in associations such as the Pieds Noirs Youth Association, and online spaces such as the Cercle Algérianiste, and newspapers and websites which publish their demands and activities, which often included an attack on the Algerians (the National Liberation Front) and described them as “terrorists”, and also strongly criticize the General Charles de Gaulle and his government dumped the El Dorado of Algeria, as the French call it.

Pieds-Noirs are the European settlers who lived or were born in Algeria during the French occupation (1830-1962). The majority of them are Italian, Spanish, Maltese and even Eastern European, and the French represent only 11%, according to a 1948 census.

Remnants of Pieds Noirs stand in contrast to Algerian demands to apologize for or even recognize the crimes of French colonialism, and in so many cases they agree with Harkis in the right of return. However, the position of Algerian authorities was always firm, and only those who hide under the roof of French nationality visit Algeria.