Algeria Votes To Declare French Colonisation Crime, Seeks Restitution

Algiers (Algeria)- Legislators in Algeria voted to declare France's colonisation of the North African country a crime, approving a law that calls for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule, among other demands seeking to redress historical wrongs.

France slammed the law as a“hostile act” threatening bilateral efforts to heal wounds of the past. The two countries retain close cultural and economic ties but have troubled diplomatic relations.

In a solemn ceremony steeped in symbolism, 340 of 407 members of Algeria's National Assembly voted late Wednesday to approve the law. The move came just a few weeks after African countries made a collective resolution for recognition and reparations for colonial-era crimes.

The law covers the period from the landing of King Charles X's army on the beaches of Sidi Ferruch, west of Algiers, in 1830 to July 5, 1962, the date of Algeria's official independence.

The text provides for the restitution of Algerian archives and property moved to France during the colonial period and the transmission to Algiers of detailed maps of French nuclear tests conducted in Algeria from 1960 to 1966. It also calls for the repatriation of the remains of some Algerian resistance fighters taken to France.

The law stipulates prison sentences for any action by an Algerian celebrating French colonialism, for attacks on symbols of the Algerian resistance, and“remarks with colonial connotations”.

France is unlikely to heed the demands in the law.

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