Algerian Genocide

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Nov 14 (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy drew both cheers and criticism on a visit to ex-colony Algeria on Tuesday, winning praise for an easing of visa rules but anger at his failure to apologise for colonial misdeeds.

Sarkozy, who was meeting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on the second and last day of his trip, is visiting the giant north African oil-exporting country, France's touchiest former overseas possession, to discuss counter-terrorism and migration.

Government daily El Moudjahid said Monday's announcement by Sarkozy, a French presidential contender, of a streamlining of visa rules would help to build trust in view of the importance for both countries of the large Algerian community in France.

The measure, sure to please the estimated one million voters of Algerian origin back home, will shorten the time it takes Algerians to get a French visa by 15 days. At the moment it can take weeks or months to get the much sought after document.

The decision by Sarkozy "can only serve to further strengthen the trust and human exchanges between the two traditionally friendly countries", Moudjahid said.

Algerian authorities have said they see a loosening of visa restrictions as fundamental to advancing a stalled attempt to secure a friendship treaty between the two countries, whose relations have been uneasy for decades.

The 1954-1962 war of independence cost the lives of 1.5 million Algerians, according to the Algerian government. Many French also perished. Bouteflika has repeatedly called on France to apologise for killings committed during the colonial era to help improve bilateral ties.

French authorities have responded by urging "mutual respect", an approach Sarkozy has followed on his Algeria trip.

Sarkozy's unreadiness to provide an apology and his tough policies on immigration drew fire from several commentators.

Influential daily El Watan said Sarkozy should not have been allowed to place a wreath on Monday at a monument to Algerians killed in the independence war, explaining that this honour was normally only for visiting heads of state and government.

"Public opinion here has learned to know and abhor this ambitious and provocative person, a crafty manipulator with a sharp tongue, who has overturned the fine customs of French political life by grazing on the nauseating pastures of Le Pen," it said in a reference to extreme right wing politician and presidential contender Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Sarkozy provoked anger among many Africans earlier this year by promoting tougher controls on immigration and residency, partly in response to riots last year involving large numbers of immigrants or their children.

Algeria and France delayed the signing of a friendship treaty, that was due to be approved at the end of last year, following the passage by France's National Assembly in February 2005 of a law referring to the "positive role of the French presence overseas, especially in North Africa".

French President Jacques Chirac repealed the law but that did not end the row.

Quotidien d'Oran quoted Sarkozy's Algerian counterpart Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni as saying the time was not yet right to conclude a friendship treay with France, and that ties should be deepened by actions on the level of everyday life.

French minister draws cheers, vitriol in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

“We do not apologize for parent’s faults”

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Algeria: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika refused on Tuesday to offer words of reconciliation to France, bringing a chilly end to a visit by French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy.

The frank-speaking Algerian leader hosted Sarkozy, the French interior minister, for a 4- 1/2 hour meeting, but made little effort to patch up differences with Algeria's former colonial ruler.

"It's fully clear that we (France and Algeria) are condemned to having a common future," Bouteflika told reporters after the meeting. "We can do nothing about the laws of geography," which place France and Algeria on opposite sides of the Mediterranean, he said.

Asked whether he could offer a word that could bring Algeria and France closer, Bouteflika said: "In these circumstances, I cannot say anything."

Continue reading..... A curt Bouteflika offers a cool end to French minister's trip to Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

January 06, 2007 - - "France must apologize for the wrongs it committed against Algeria during the colonial period," Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said on national radio on Thursday.

"We are willing to work with France, but on the condition that we acknowledge the past," said the prime minster emphasizing that certain issues between France and Algeria could not be wished away.

"Algeria aspires for an equitable relationship with France and I hope that the ongoing dialogue between our two countries is based on mutual interests," said the prime minister.

Divergence of views between the two countries on the question of French colonization of Algeria hinders the development of bilateral relations, causing among other things the postponement of the signing of a treaty of friendship between Algeria and France.

Algeria demands apology from France