Algeria’s parliament has passed a landmark law declaring France’s 132 years of colonial rule a crime against humanity, amid worsening relations between the two countries over their shared history.
On Wednesday, lawmakers in the People’s National Assembly unanimously approved the bill, which states that France bears “legal responsibility for its colonial past and the tragedies it caused.”
The law affirms that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonization is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people.”
Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Boughali said the vote sends “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable,” according to state news agency APS.
France ruled Algeria from 1830 until independence in 1962, following a brutal war marked by widespread violence, torture, and massacres by colonial forces.
Algerian officials and civil society groups have long demanded that Paris fully acknowledge responsibility for the abuses committed during colonial rule, particularly during the War of Independence, which killed hundreds of thousands of Algerians.
The law also reflects ongoing grievances over France’s nuclear testing program in Algeria. Between 1960 and 1966, France conducted 17 nuclear tests in the Sahara, including the plutonium-based Blue Jerboa explosion, leaving lasting environmental and health consequences.
While French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged specific historical crimes in recent years, France has not issued a comprehensive official apology, a point that continues to fuel tensions between Algiers and Paris.
Source: Al-Ahed News
