The remains of 24 fighters killed during French colonization arrived in Algeria

The Algerian state organized, Friday, July 3, a solemn military ceremony on the arrival of the remains of 24 insurgents killed during the colonization and returned by France. 

The Hercules C-130 carrying skulls landed at Algiers International Airport in the early afternoon, accompanied by three fighters from the Algerian army. Once on Algerian soil, the 24 coffins of the "martyrs", covered with the national flag, were greeted by a long guard of honor. They were slowly carried by soldiers, wearing sanitary masks, on a red carpet and to the sound of 21 gunshots.

🔴 Last minute: Arrival at Houari Boumediene international airport of # Algiers of the mortuary remains of 24 leaders of the Popular Resistance, on board a military plane from # France. # Algeria 🇩🇿
Images: public television. pic.twitter.com/iPNYH4xeNK

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune bowed to each coffin. An imam said a prayer before a speech by the chief of staff, Saïd Chengriha The coffins will then be transferred to the Palace of Culture, where they will be exposed throughout the day on Saturday. The remains are to be buried Sunday, Independence Day, in the Martyrs' Square at the cemetery of El Alia in Algiers

These are "the remains of 24 leaders of the Popular Resistance, who have been deprived of their natural and human right to be buried for more than 170 years," Abdelmadjid Tebboune explained on Thursday when the return of the spoils.

The Algerian president had hailed "these heroes who faced brutal French occupation, between 1838 and 1865, and whom the savage enemy decapitated in reprisal, before transferring their skulls overseas, so that their graves were not a symbol of resistance ".

Arrival at Houari Boumediene international airport of # Algiers of the mortuary remains of 24 leaders of the Popular Resistance, aboard a military aircraft from #France. The repatriation of the skulls of the other Chouhada deportees post-mortem will follow. # Algeria 🇩🇿 pic.twitter.com/B4rJYUcCMc

"A process of friendship and lucidity"

This restitution by France is a strong sign of a thaw in relations between Algeria and the former colonial power, marked since independence in 1962 by recurrent controversies of tensions and misunderstandings. "This gesture is part of a process of friendship and lucidity on all the wounds of our history," said the French presidency on Friday.

"It is the meaning of the work that the President of the Republic has engaged with Algeria and which will be continued, with respect for all, for the reconciliation of the memories of the French and Algerian peoples," she added.

According to historian Benjamin Stora, interviewed by AFP, France is rediscovering its history through this kind of gesture: "It helps to get out of the dark pages of our history. We had the feeling that the colonial conquest had But the construction of large Haussmannian cities like Algiers or Oran, of roads, of hospitals ... was built on massacres, on terrible things ".

"This terrible story has been passed down from generation to generation in Algerian families. The relationship with France is very painful. It cannot pass like a letter in the post. There is a worldwide movement to reclaim history peoples and France cannot miss this, "insists this specialist from Algeria.

Illustrious Algerian fighters "war trophies"

It was not until January 2018 that Algeria officially asked France to return the skulls and the colonial archives. During a visit to Algiers in December 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron undertook to return the Algerian human remains stored at the Musée de l'Homme, one of the sites of the National Museum of Natural History.

At the time, the president of the Museum, Bruno David, said that the institution was "ready to support the restitution process". "These human remains entered our anthropology collections at the end of the 19th century after various episodes linked to the French conquest of Algeria," he explained.

Among the most illustrious Algerian fighters at the start of colonization is Cheikh Bouziane, the leader of the Ziban insurrection in eastern Algeria in 1849. Captured by the French, he was shot and then beheaded. There is also the famous Mohammed Lamjad ben Abdelmalek, known as the Sharif "Boubaghla" ("the man with the mule"), initiator of a popular revolt, killed in 1854. These skulls were considered as "war trophies" by the French military.

The memory issue at the heart of relations between Algeria and France

It is an Algerian historian, Ali-Farid Belkadi, who raised the question of these skulls in 2011 after having carried out research at the museum. He then deplored that the skulls were "caulked in vulgar cardboard boxes, which evoke the packaging of shoe stores". A criticism refuted by the museum management.

In recent years, petitions, notably signed by historians Benjamin Stora, Pascal Blanchard and Mohammed Harbi, have demanded the return of these remains to Algeria.

On the eve of the 58th anniversary of Independence, celebrated on Sunday, this gesture manifests a desire for appeasement after the recent diplomatic quarrel about the broadcasting of a French documentary on Algerian anti-regime youth, which greatly displeased in Algiers.

The memory issue remains at the heart of the volatile relations between Algeria and the former colonial power. Algerian deputies have just unanimously adopted a "historic" law establishing a Day of Remembrance, May 8, in memory of the 1945 massacres committed by French forces in Sétif and in Constantine.

The Algerian authorities also want to put back on the table the file of the "disappeared" during the war of independence (1954-1962) - more than 2 200, according to Algiers - and that of the French nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara which "made and continue to claim lives, "they said.

In February 2017, while he was a presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron, on a visit to Algiers, called the colonization of Algeria a "crime against humanity".

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app