ALGIERS: Algeria´s parliament on Monday approved an amended law criminalising French colonial rule, removing earlier provisions that called for official apologies and broad reparations from France after Senate demanded the changes.
The law, approved by the lower house in December, had declared France´s colonisation of Algeria from 1830 to 1962 a crime and demanded an apology and reparations, with Paris calling it “hostile”.
But in January the Senate said some articles of the text did not fully reflect the official approach set out by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who had said Algeria did not need financial reparations from France.
A clause seeking compensation for victims of French nuclear tests in Algeria remains unchanged. Fawzi Bendjaballah, rapporteur of the joint committee tasked with revising the bill, said the changes reflected the “principled and unwavering position of the Algerian state”.
“Algeria, which sacrificed millions of martyrs for its freedom, independence and sovereignty, will never bargain away its memory or its sovereignty for any material advantage,” he told the lower house.
