(ANSAmed) – ALGIERS, 26 YEARS AGO – French President Emmanuel Macron has been on a three-day official visit to Algeria since Thursday aimed at “rebuilding” bilateral relations marked by sharp political differences linked to France’s colonial past in North Africa. country.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune welcomed the French head of state, accompanied by a delegation of more than 90 people.
Algeria celebrated this year the 60th anniversary of its independence from France.
The two heads of state will visit a monument built to commemorate the martyrs of the country’s war of independence which, in 1962, ended more than 130 years of French colonial rule.
There have been multiple crises in relations between France and Algeria.
Algerian President Tebboune said there had been “encouraging results” from the first day of Macron’s visit, citing the relaunch of several intergovernmental committees and an “intensification of high-level visits”.
Macron announced the creation of a committee of Algerian and French historians to study the archives on Algerian colonization and war.
“We have a common past” which is “complex, painful”, and “we decided together” to create a committee of historians to “look together at this historical period”, “from the beginning of colonization to the war of liberation, without any taboos, with the desire for full access to our archives,” Macron said in a joint statement with his counterpart Tebboune.
The French leader, for his second visit to Algeria since his presidential election in 2017, “chose to orient this visit towards the future, [concentrating on] start-ups, innovation, youth and new sectors”, specified the presidency. (ANS Amed).
