France Urged To Admit Colonial Crimes
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Courtesy Of: The San Francisco Chronicle
From: Agence France-Presse
Sunday, November 12, 2006
http://sfgate.com/

(11-12) 04:28 PST ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Algeria's leader has called on France to recognize colonial-era crimes in his country.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, speaking at a Saturday party conference ahead of Monday's start of a two-day visit by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, said France and Algeria have "friendly" relations.

But "these relations cannot mask collective memory," he said.

Algeria is "ready," to cooperate with France "so that it recognizes crimes committed against Algerians ... The Algerian can forgive, but will never forget," Belkhadem said.

...Sarkozy, in an interview with the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique published last week, said that the colonial era "had its dark moments" and that the slave trade was a crime.

He insisted however that the "duty of memory" about the injustices of the colonial system must not be confused with the French people who lived in, helped build and "loved Africa."

...The former crown jewel of France's North African colonies, Algeria was under French rule for 132 years before Algerians won independence in 1962 following a brutal eight-year conflict.

Bilateral ties soured last year when France's parliament passed a law requiring textbooks to show the "positive role" that France played in its former colonies. The law embarrassed the French government, and Chirac ordered it revamped.