Algeria buried Sunday, the anniversary of its independence, the remains of 24 anti-colonial fighters handed over by France to the "martyrs" square, but still awaits an apology from Paris. "Today is a great day. For me, this is the real day of independence. These are the first Algerians who sacrificed for the country. Without them, we would not be here today" , Yamina, 83, the great-granddaughter of Mokhtar Ben Kouider El Titraoui, one of the 24 "martyrs", told AFP.
Preserved for decades in a Parisian museum, the mortuary remains - of skulls - of these Algerians killed at the start of the French occupation in the 19th century were buried during solemn funerals in the cemetery of El Alia, the largest in the country . The 24 coffins were buried in a square near the graves of former heads of state, in the presence of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and dignitaries. The Algerian flags which covered them were given by the Algerian president to "cadets of the nation, high school students who follow their studies in military schools, as a handover to the young generation", according to an official.
Thaw in relations between Algeria and France
After their transfer Friday from France to Algeria, the coffins were exposed on Saturday at the Palace of Culture in Algiers, where a large crowd moved for a final tribute. Some cried while meditating in front of these dead, including Sheikh Bouziane, the leader of the Ziban insurgency in eastern Algeria, and his comrades in arms. Captured by the French, they were shot and then beheaded.
Colonized for 132 years (1830-1962), Algeria had officially requested the handing over of skulls - several dozen - and colonial archives in January 2018. Their return by France is a strong sign of a thaw in relations between Algeria and the former colonial power, marked since independence in 1962 by polemics and tensions. "This gesture is part of a process of friendship and lucidity on all the wounds of our history," commented the French presidency.
In December 2017 in Algiers, French President Emmanuel Macron undertook to return the Algerian remains stored since the 19th century in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The same year, but before his election, he also described the colonization of Algeria in Algiers as a "crime against humanity", drawing criticism from French right-wing officials.
"We have already received half-excuses. We must take another step"
The memory issue remains at the heart of the conflictual relations between France and Algeria, where the perception is that Paris is not doing enough to repent of its colonial past.
Interviewed Saturday by the channel France 24, Abdelmadjid Tebboune estimated that it was necessary "to face the problem of the Memory which mortgages many things in the bilateral relations". On possible excuses from Paris, the Algerian president replied: "we have already received half-excuses. We must take another step (...) We want it".
"This will help calm the climate and make it more peaceful for economic relations, for cultural relations, for neighborhood relations", he added, recalling that more than six million Algerians live in France .
On June 23, Algerian deputies adopted a "historic" law establishing a day of memory on May 8, in memory of the 1945 massacres committed by French forces in Sétif and in Constantine (east). Algiers also wants to put on the table the file of the "disappeared" during the war of independence - more than 2,200 according to Algiers - and that of the French nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara which "have made and continue to make victims".
On the occasion of the Independence Day, Abdelmadjid Tebboune pardoned nearly 4,700 prisoners, including five linked to the anti-regime protest movement who released on Sunday according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees.