Evian Accords: "Baba Merzoug", the canon of Franco-Algerian discord
Surmounted by the Gallic rooster, the cannon of Algiers seems lost in the naval base of Brest, difficult to access for civilians.
© RFI / Claire Fages
Text by: Claire Fages Follow
2 mins
In the list of restitutions requested by Algeria from France, 60 years after the end of the war, there is a cannon called “La Consulaire” in France and “Baba Merzoug” (“Lucky Father”) in Algeria.
Carried away as a trophy by the French Navy during the capture of Algiers in 1830, it has stood for 130 years in the form of a column, in the naval base of Brest.
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Twelve tons and seven meters long.
Extraordinary in size, the cannon no longer works in 1830 during the conquest of Algiers by France.
But the French Navy is keen on this trophy, because it symbolizes martyrdom.
“
This martyrdom is that of the Reverend Father Jean Le Vacher, who was consul of France in 1683 and who was martyred in front of the mouth of this cannon,
explains Hervé Bédri, responsible for the historical heritage of the navy.
Admiral Duperré remembers it and will ask his sailors to bring back La Consulaire so that he can erect it in a column in memory of the reverend father and all those who were martyred at the mouth of this cannon
.
»
A solution where the Algerians and the French would decide together on the development of the column
Jean-Yves Guengant, historian
RFI
The file falls under the Elysée
In 1833, the barrel of the cannon of Algiers was installed in the framework, majestic at the time, of the General Majority, in the military arsenal of Brest.
Not without having been decorated with the symbols of French power.
“
We have a representation of France in majesty, on a throne, extending a hand to Africa to bring it the benefits of civilization
: medicine – we see a caduceus –, geography – with a globe –, science.
A typical representation of the time, supplemented, at the top of La Consulaire, by a Gallic rooster, its paw resting on the globe, which represents the spirit of the time well
”, further observes Hervé Bédri.
On the base of the cannon, a bas-relief to the glory of colonization.
© @BCRM of Brest
Miraculously spared by the German bombardments of the Second World War, the column of the gun seems a little lost today between the cranes, the cars and the dry dock.
Little known to Brestois, the "Baba Merzoug" is claimed by the Algerian authorities.
The file is up to the Elysée, assures Hervé Bédri, who concludes: “
The navy will do what it is told to do.
»
It's a part of their history, it's normal that they recover it
Micro-sidewalk: few Brestois know of the existence of La Consulaire
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