France moves to soothe anger in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Algiers - French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy praised what he called an exceptional partnership between his country and Algeria on Sunday at the start of a visit meant to soothe anger over a French law citing the positive role of colonialism.

Upon his arrival in the capital, Algiers, Douste-Blazy said ties between France and its former colony in North Africa, were strong. "This strength is drawn from geography, and especially from history, and the deep desire of our two peoples for this friendship," he said.

The foreign minister said he hoped his visit would "give substance to this exceptional partnership".

Douste-Blazy was to meet with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his Algerian counterpart, Mohamed Bedjaoui, during the two-day visit.

Relations between the countries suffered after French lawmakers quietly passed a law last February requiring textbooks to show the "positive role" France played in its former colonies.

Algeria's president equated the law with "mental blindness" and revisionist history. The law incensed many in former French territories in North Africa and the Caribbean, who accused France's leaders of trying to gild the past.

Tempers cooled after President Jacques Chirac said in January that the law should be revamped.

A key issue during Douste-Blazy's visit is likely to be a friendship treaty between the two countries that was supposed to be signed late last year. Observers blame the colonialism law for Algeria's foot-dragging on the treaty.

Algeria, France's one-time colonial jewel, won independence in 1962 after a brutal eight-year conflict.

The French foreign minister was also to visit the Mont d'Or cemetery, which holds the graves of many French people and is being maintained with help from the French government. He also planned to tour a new business school championed by Chirac during a visit in 2004, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

France moves to soothe anger in Algeria

[phylay]

[lePharon]

el-khyal get this translated by an algero, it's worth it

T'movi wela ma tmovish, c'est kifkif - France was created for Algerians to blame it for their own(dz) problems. They try to play "clever" with those very same who played them a trick - They took (5 times the size of rance) full of Natural Gaz and the Finest Oil from them, just as Americains bought Louisiana full of Oil from the French for 25 cents. hachrine doro !

[Al-khiyal]

In his first state visit to Algeria in March 2003, French President Jacques Chirac said that the French-Algerian relation was sometimes 'vicious, tragic and painful', evoking wounds of the Algerian war.

Chirac wanted to make a genuine reconciliation between the peoples of the two countries and reach a friendship treaty with Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whom he considered a friend at the time.

The opportunity to reach such reconciliation and crown it with a treaty was historical, especially since both the French and Algerian presidents took part in the Algerian war. Chirac participated in the French forces that were deployed in Algeria, while Bouteflika was involved in the ranks of resistance against French occupation.

Some kind of a honeymoon has started between Chirac and Bouteflika since 2003. The two presidents exerted efforts to cement their personal ties in order to reach a friendship treaty, toward which both of them showed willingness.

During his famous tour in Bab Al-Wadi streets in Algeria (March 2003), Chirac was welcomed with warm cheers while he was about to take a decision about opposing the war on Iraq, which was an indicator of the Algerian, and perhaps the French public opinion's readiness for reconciliation. However, the developments that have taken place since the reelection of Bouteflika no longer reflect such readiness.

On the French side, despite Chirac's genuine desire for reconciliation, the French parliament passed a law referring to the 'positive role' of the French occupation, as a stand that reopened wounds that have not yet healed. The French president mended the situation and decided to cancel the controversial text from the law.

When Bouteflika was admitted to Val-de-Grace Hospital for treatment, Chirac sent him best wishes for recovery, asking to visit or meet with him after the end of the treatment. However, though the Algerian President thanked the French physicians who treated him well, he was unwilling to receive or meet his French counterpart.

However, Bouteflika received French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. He opened the meeting by criticizing the French President on the grounds that the latter was preparing a French-Algerian friendship treaty unilaterally, even though the Algerian president knew well that his advisor regularly meets the French team assigned to the task of preparing the agreement for discussion.

It seems that Bouteflika wants to backpedal, only for internal reasons, on what he had agreed to with his friend Chirac. Now we will have to wait for no less than ten years before a real reconciliation occurs between the two countries.

Actually, there are ruling elites in Algeria and in syndicates and associations, including a large number of veterans, who still take anti-French stands and cast doubts on France's intentions. On the French side, there is a large number of the old generations who lived and fought in Algeria and have not forgotten the past, but rather, still feel the bitterness of their departure from that country.

There are also some people in the French and Algerian fronts who have the ability to influence the decision-makers in both countries. Chirac actually wanted to overlook this situation and reach a difficult reconciliation with a president he thought to be a real partner, but who, unfortunately, disappointed Chirac with his statements.

What has caused Bouteflika's flare-up against France? Are they internal reasons and private calculations, or is it because he considers France, according to some milieus, closer to Morocco's stand regarding the Sahara case? Is the issue of monitoring visas to Algerians also a reason?

Certainly, missing such an opportunity is a loss for the two peoples, as closeness and reconciliation are a mutual desire. However, the friendship treaty is no longer on Chirac's agenda, and reaching such a treaty may take years.

Source

[Al-khiyal]

Exhausted by suburban violence and street revolutions, Paris does not want to waste any more time and effort in concluding the Friendship Treaty with Algeria. That’s why it sent its Foreign Minister, Philip Douste Blazy, to meet Algerian senior officials with the aim of making arrangements for the treaty that had been planned to be concluded at the end of last year. This achievement is intended to be the last finger print left by Jacque Chirac before leaving office following the next elections to be held within a year.

However France, which has realised the extent of its loss of influence in Algeria because of its historical backgrounds, has spoilt the opportunity to open a new page with the Algerian side. The openness policy followed by Algiers with other partners from different continents and poles culminating in the conclusion of strategic friendship agreements with several countries may be taken as a message that has been well understood by France, which is making it hurry to catch up with the competition to win investment opportunities and preserve its position in the region. Spain and Italy have already seized the opportunity, whilst Russia, Korea and other countries have established good relations with Algeria, notwithstanding the absence of historical considerations and backgrounds.

Nevertheless, the French side does not seem to have read well the other part of the Algerian message: Once, when it sent its foreign minister Blazy, forgetting that he was one of the advocators of the law of 23 February 2005, and secondly when it did not interpret well the changes taking place in Algeria in that the country has recovered from its crisis and rid itself of the political and economic dilemma. In spite of these changes, the French still adhere to the complex of hegemony over the old colonies and historical and civil guardianship over those nations. Hence, differences persisted and France preserved the same rhetoric in dealing with unresolved issues between both countries, especially those relating to the movements of individuals and visas, besides adhering to the demand of the freedom of movement to Algeria of the Harkis – a group of Algerians who collaborated with the colonisers during the War of Independence. This can be added to the Elise’s clear bias in favour of the Moroccan approach in dealing with the dossier of the Western Sahara.

After intervening to cancel the 4th article of the law of 23 February 2005 that provoked a great deal of anger because of France’s glorification of its colonisation policy in its former colonies, Chirac mistakenly believed that Algeria would run toward France simply because of cancelling that article. In fact he did not realise the size of the insult caused by that law: in addition to wiping all the attempts of reconciliation, it has revealed to the Algerian side the truth and nature of the other partner. Now, Algeria sticks more to the demand of countering the said law by the recognition and apology for the crimes they committed in the period extending from 1830-1962. And despite the fact that Paris classifies Algeria as one of the 12 strategic markets that it focuses on to develop its economy, Algeria has not been lured and convinced to get involved in an agreement bearing the same French attitude from former colonies.

The latest Algerian stance, which has revived Algeria’s diplomatic glory of the 70’s and achieved public support, has put the treaty in the freezer to decrease its heat or freeze it for ever. In fact, Blazy’s postponed tour since last year has not understood the Algerian approach holding that the present circumstances are not convenient for going forward with the treaty. Therefore, it failed to break the ice dividing both countries. His meetings with different high Algerian officials had informed him about the position and concerns of the Algerian side. It also revealed to him the adherence to the demands of recognition and apology to the Algerians for the atrocities committed by their ancestors against this people. As for the Harkis’ dossier, it should stay folded forever seeing that they were traitors who do not have the right of return to Algeria.

Now the Algerian side has moved to negotiate from a powerful position, and it has several winning cards. In the press conference with his French counterpart, the Algerian foreign minister, Mohamed Bedjaoui, insisted that the treaty should be concluded away from dependency and imbalance of powers characterising the two countries’ relationship during the last few decades. According to him, Algeria does not want to sign a treaty devoid of sovereignty and overlooking historical facts; it should be done in the context of mutual respect, parity and interests. He also alluded that the 23 February law was produced in Paris and died there, not in Algeria. He made clear that colonisation is condemned in Algeria and all over the free world, including France itself.

Paris puts Friendship Treaty with Algeria in freezer

[Al-khiyal]

Taking time off from America-bashing, the French elite is directing its anger at a new target: Algeria. The reason is that Algeria, having promised to sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation with France three years ago, has decided that it is no longer interested.

The ostensible cause of the Algerian change of mind was a decision by the French parliament last year to rewrite school textbooks to include "studying positive aspects of colonialism" in former French colonies, notably Algeria. The idea so incensed the Algerians that they downgraded contacts with Paris and put the proposed treaty on hold.

Moreover, Algeria said it would boycott the much-hyped Summit of French-Speaking Nations scheduled for September. The snub was particularly hurtful to Jacques Chirac, who had planned the do as the final bouquet in his 12-year presidential term which ends in April 2007.

IN THE past few months the authorities in Algiers have closed more than 40 French-language private schools on the grounds that they represent a threat to "Algerian national identity." At the same time they have authorized a dozen private English-language schools. Many in the Algerian ruling elite now send their offspring to Britain or the United States, rather than France, for further education.

"We have lost Algeria for a second time," says a retired senior French diplomat. "First to the Soviets in 1962, and now to the Americans......"

Eye of the Storm: Algeria bids France 'au revoir'

(2-page article)