Africa report

In search of those missing from the Algerian war

Audio 03:55

Zoubida Zaidi with a photo of her father Mohand Arezki Azzi, who disappeared in Akbou, Algeria, in 1957. © Zoubida Zaidi personal archive

By: Marie Casadebaig Follow

4 mins

60 years ago, the Évian Accords were signed by representatives of the French government and those of the GPRA, the provisional government of the Algerian republic.

The next day, the ceasefire was declared, eight years after the start of the war.

The toll of this war remains very uncertain, perhaps up to 150,000 dead.

The surest figure is that of the French victims, 25,000 soldiers and just over 2,700 civilians.

Impossible to be more precise as the practice of forced disappearance and torture, by the French army, was common.

A shadow that still hovers, 60 years later, over the following generations.

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Of her father, Mohand Arezki Azzi, Zoubida Zaidi has few memories.

She is 6 years old when he disappears.

On November 30, 1957, French police officers showed up at the door of the family home.

The people who came to get him were people who knew him.

My father was a station master.

At the time, it was "somebody".

"

Hello Mr. Azzi, we've come to see you for a little check-up, would you mind coming?

" He left in his railway uniform and we waited seven, eight, nine hours.

We waited for the next day, then the day after, and then nothing.

»

That day, in this small town in Kabylie, 15 other men were arrested.

All notables.

For Zoubida's family, absence is compounded by poverty.

Without a death certificate, no pension is paid to him until independence.

The prison doors opened and we started to do all the prisons in Algeria.

We searched, we searched... We didn't have any of those, none.

They were eventually declared as “martyrs”.

It was over, there was nothing

left,” recalls Zoubida Zaidi

From the age of 6 until now, I have been living with fear and anxiety.

It's my father's absence that I don't know what happened to him, that's what's most serious

 , ”she adds.

Personal archive of Zoubida Zaidi, daughter of Mohand Arezki Azzi.

© Courtesy of Zoubida Zaidi

► To listen also: Algeria, vivid memories

Looking for the slightest clue

Zoubida Zaidi and her siblings have followed every possible lead to find any trace of their father.

A group of wandering men, reported in one village, a mass grave discovered in another, in vain.

A very recent new hope, the announcement by the French government of the opening of judicial archives linked to the war.

If you open the archives, there is bound to be something there.

My other daughter jumped in and said "

I'll see

".

She typed the name [on the internet] and found information.

A little thread that can serve us...

"

This thread 

is the 1000autres.org website

.

Originally, the discovery by the historian Fabrice Riceputi of an archive collection bringing together complaints from families of the disappeared.

The site is a call for witnesses to give back an identity to all these anonymous people.

“The crimes were denied, covered up”

The historian and Zoubida Zaidi meet for the first time in a Parisian café.

"

Some time ago, I found among others a letter written by [his] mother to General Salan who commanded all the armies in Algeria

", explains Fabrice Riceputi.

And Madame's mother was begging to please tell her if her husband was still alive.

We are faced with a case of disappearance – I don't know what other word to use – almost “normal” at the time for most Algerians.

This is a kind of collective raid in your city.

We are really dealing with a systematic modus operandi of the French army at that time, which is what is called today, in international law, “forced disappearance”.

Counting is not possible

 “, he explains to Zoubida Zaidi.

► Also to listen: Disappeared from Algeria: "This leaves the families in an impossible mourning"

"

I thought, when the president said that we were going to open the archives, there were archives that had never been opened to the public...

", replies the woman.

But the historian temporizes: “

You have to realize that at the time, the truth was never written.

We hid it, systematically.

The crimes were denied, covered up by the military hierarchy.

One should not have too high hopes on the truths that can be found in these archives.

 »

Me now, listening to all this, I think that the satisfaction is to make this story known in France.

There is a monument, there is everything you need... But it's not enough...

”, thinks Zoubida Zaidi.

She and Fabrice Riceputi have planned to meet again, so that the story of Mohand Arezki Azzi, the Akbou station master, is known and passed on.

►Also read: In Marseille, the memorial appeasement of the Algerian war carried by young people

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