(MENAFN) As Algeria marks the 63rd anniversary of its independence from France on July 5, the occasion feels more like a moment of reckoning than a celebration. Rather than moving toward reconciliation, diplomatic ties between Algiers and Paris have reached a low point, driven by France’s unwillingness to fully acknowledge its colonial-era atrocities and Algeria’s renewed push for formal apologies and reparations. Decades after the end of colonial rule, the scars of empire remain unhealed, and the struggle over historical memory continues.

Understanding the roots of today’s strained relations requires revisiting France’s initial invasion of Algeria, which began on June 15, 1830. Within just three weeks, French forces had captured Algiers. General de Bourmont, who led the campaign, declared that it took only “twenty days to destroy a state whose existence had burdened Europe for three centuries,” referring to the Ottoman-controlled Algeria, which had developed its own identity and governance structures.

France’s swift military success created a dangerous misconception that the colonization of Algeria would be easy. This misjudgment led to the rapid incorporation of the territory into the French colonial empire. What French authorities failed to anticipate was the emergence of a powerful independence movement — the FLN (National Liberation Front) — that would eventually drive them out and restore Algerian sovereignty.

Even today, these historical wounds remain raw, and France’s half-hearted gestures of apology have done little to bridge the deep divide.

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