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Algeria called its ambassador to France for consultations after what it described as “irresponsible” comments attributed to Emmanuel Macron. The French president considered during a meeting with descendants of protagonists of the Algerian war that, after its independence in 1962, the former colony was built on “a memory rent”, maintained by “the political-military system.”
Algeria decided on Saturday to call its ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar-Daoud, “for consultations,” state television announced. “Algeria is calling its ambassador in Paris for consultations and a statement will be issued in this regard,” he said on the channel, stating that another explanatory statement would follow.
To justify this call, the Algerian presidency mentioned statements by French President Emmanuel Macron: “Following the undeniable statements that various French sources have attributed by name to the President of the French Republic, Algeria expresses its categorical rejection of inadmissible interference in its internal affairs that such statements constitute “.
These statements would have been, according to the Algerian media, made by the French president during a meeting on Thursday with descendants of protagonists of the Algerian war, aimed precisely at calming “this commemorative wound.”
“Nothing can absolve the colonial powers of their crimes”
During this debate, recounted by the French newspaper Le Monde, Emmanuel Macron considered that, after its independence in 1962, Algeria was built on “a memory rent”, maintained by “the political-military system”. The president also mentioned “an official story”, according to him, “totally rewritten” that “is not based on truths” but on “hatred of France.”
Algeria declared that these comments “are an intolerable attack on the memory of the 5.63 million brave martyrs who sacrificed their lives in their heroic resistance to the French colonial invasion and in the glorious National Liberation Revolution.”
“This unfortunate intervention fundamentally contradicts the principles that should govern all Algerian-French cooperation in matters of memory,” declared the Algerian presidency, arguing that “nothing and no one can absolve the colonial powers of their crimes, including the massacres of October 17 in Paris, which Algeria and its community in France are preparing to commemorate with dignity. “
A precedent in May 2020
Relations between Paris and Algiers were already tense. On Wednesday, the French ambassador in Algiers, François Gouyette, was summoned to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify him of “a formal protest by the government”, following the decision by Paris to cut in half the number of visas granted to Algerians who wish to travel to France.
The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the measure as a “unilateral decision of the French government”, which according to France responds to the refusal of the Maghreb governments to welcome the illegal immigrants sent by Paris.
Moreover, it is the second time that Algiers has summoned its ambassador to Paris since May 2020. At that time, the ambassador, Salah Lebdioui, had been the object of an “immediate” withdrawal after the broadcast of a documentary on the movement of pro-democracy protest Hirak, broadcast by France 5 and the parliamentary channel.
With AFP, Reuters, and local media
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