Algeria’s parliament has unanimously passed a law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime, formally demanding an apology and reparations from Paris for abuses committed during colonial rule.
Lawmakers approved the bill on Wednesday in Algiers, with members chanting slogans in support of national memory, as the legislation placed legal responsibility for France’s colonial actions at the centre of Algeria’s legal framework.
Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Boughali said the law sent a clear message that Algeria’s national memory was neither erasable nor negotiable, according to the APS state news agency, while the text catalogues crimes including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, torture and the systematic plundering of resources.
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The vote comes amid strained relations between Algeria and France, with tensions heightened by disagreements over Western Sahara and recent diplomatic incidents, while French officials have declined to comment on the parliamentary decision.
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