Setif massacres, a painful page that Algeria can not turn

08 May, 2011

ALGIERS - The massacre of thousands of Algerians by French forces in three eastern cities, including Setif, exactly 66 years ago, are "a painful page that Algeria can not turn," said Sunday an Algerian minister, quoted by APS.

"The relations of Algeria and France can not be built on good foundations and sustainable manner only when France has acknowledged her crimes in Algeria," also said minister of mujahideen, Mohamed Cherif Abbas, inaugurating the 9th International Symposium on the massacres of Guelma, one of the three affected cities.

The day before Mr. Abbas, and also the general secretary of the National Liberation Front (FLN in power) Abdelaziz Belkhadem insisted on the occasion of this anniversary, the need for France to make amends.

In the afternoon, the minister, local dignitaries and veterans should visit the various sites.

On May 8, 1945, while France was celebrating the victory of democracy over Nazism, independence demonstrations took place in Setif, Guelma and Kherrata. They were brutally suppressed by French forces leaving thousands dead.

Algerians speak of 45,000 victims, while the French estimate them from 1,500 to 20,000 deaths, including 103 Europeans.

Algeria had gained its independence from France in 1962 after a bloody war.

Algerian demands of apology and repentance are frequent; especially during the anniversary of the bloody periods of war of liberation.

During a visit to Algeria in late 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has strongly condemned the colonial system "unjust by nature" but rejected any idea of ​​"repentance".

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/6474.html.