In Algeria, Sarkozy Denounces Colonialism

[Tonia]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/world/africa/04algeria.html

In Algeria, Sarkozy Denounces Colonialism

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: December 4, 2007
ALGIERS, Dec. 3 (Agence France-Presse) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy of
France began a three-day visit to Algeria on Monday, denouncing
colonialism as "profoundly unjust" but stopping short of apologizing
for the atrocities France was accused of committing there.

"Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three
founding words of our Republic: freedom, equality, brotherhood," Mr.
Sarkozy said.

But he steered clear of bending to Algerian demands to say he was
sorry for atrocities that French troops and settlers were accused of
committing during the North African country's bitter and bloody war of
independence, from 1954 to 1962.

Mr. Sarkozy said "terrible crimes" were committed on both sides
throughout the war with numerous victims, whom he said he wished to
honor.

France ruled Algeria, the second-biggest country in Africa, from 1830
to 1962, turning the country into one of its empire's proudest
possessions and populating it with tens of thousands of settlers.

France and its former colony have maintained an uneasy relationship
since 1962, and now, 45 years later, plans for a friendship treaty
remain on hold over France's refusal to apologize for past events.

"The moment has come to entrust Algerian and French historians with
the task of writing this page of tormented history together," Mr.
Sarkozy said.

On Monday, the newspaper Al Khabar printed a front-page demand for an
apology, including for the nuclear tests carried out in the Algerian
Sahara in 1960 and 1966.

More than 160 Algerian and Moroccan politicians, lawyers and rights
advocates also published a joint appeal for France to acknowledge the
"trauma caused by the colonization of Algeria," to heal ties between
the nations.

"Without denying the complexity of historical events, it was France
that invaded Algeria in 1830, which occupied and dominated it, and not
the reverse," they wrote.

But for Mr. Sarkozy the main focus of the visit was business and to
drum up support for his idea of a Mediterranean Union. He said Sunday
that Algeria would be an "essential partner" in such a union.

The French leader traveled with about 100 businessmen and seven
cabinet ministers. He is expected to sign contracts worth up to $7.3
billion during his trip.

French officials said Mr. Sarkozy may also sign a nuclear cooperation
agreement, following a similar accord struck with Morocco last month,
focused on training and nuclear safety.

The period leading to Mr. Sarkozy's visit was clouded by remarks made
by an Algerian minister who charged that the president -- whose mother
is half-Jewish -- owed his election in May to a "Jewish lobby."

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika firmly disowned the comments by the
minister, Muhammad-Cherif Abbas.

Amnesty International, meanwhile, appealed to Mr. Sarkozy to call for
the Algerian government to shed light on the fate of the thousands of
people who "disappeared" during the country's civil war in the 1990s.

Algeria said in 2005 that "agents of the state" had been responsible
for the disappearance of 6,146 people from 1992 to 1998, but Algerian
rights groups put the number as much as three times higher