Tebboune Accuses France of 'Genocide' and Refuses Diplomatic Trip to Paris

© AP Photo / Fateh GuidoumOn Dec. 13, 2019 file photo, newly elected Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune gestures during a press conference in Algiers
On Dec. 13, 2019 file photo, newly elected Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune gestures during a press conference in Algiers - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 06.10.2024
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Between 1960 and 1966, France conducted nuclear tests in Algeria. As a result of these tests, hundreds of thousands of people living near the sites suffered from radiation-induced cancer and birth defects, according to local human rights groups.
In a television interview on October 5, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune commented on his country's relations with France, which have been deteriorating for months.
"The resistance lasted 70 years, with millions of deaths. Tribes and villages were razed to the ground. There was genocide. We demand historical truth. We demand the recognition of colonial crimes," he said.
For him, the Maghreb country "has been chosen for the real great exchange, which is to expel the local population in order to bring in the European population," he said, accusing a "hateful minority" in France of blocking progress on the memorial issue.
The decontamination of nuclear test sites by the former colonial power is one of the "serious issues" between the two countries:

"There are still people dying; others are affected. You became a nuclear power, and we got the diseases. Come and clean up Oued Namous, where you developed your chemical weapons, and so far our sheep and camels are dying after eating contaminated grass," Tebboune stated.

In this photograph taken on June 28, 2017,  a soldier of the French Army's 2nd NRBC (Nuclear, Radiologic, Biologic and Chimic) Dragon Company performs controls and decontamination tests with chemical products during a controlled operation in a clandestine laboratory at Fontevraud-l'Abbaye. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 12.11.2023
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The Algerian leader also referred to the 1968 Franco-Algerian agreement, which grants Algerians a special status in terms of freedom of movement, residence, and employment in France. This agreement has become a "political slogan," an "empty shell," "the standard behind which the army of extremists marches."
He also commented on France's so-called "Besson" law of 2011, the obligation to leave French territory - Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français (OQTF). For him, accusations that the Maghreb country is reluctant to receive Algerian nationals under the OQTF are a way of "making the French hate Algeria."
Finally, he rejected the idea of a visit to France, which has been repeatedly postponed since May 2023. "I'm not going to Canossa," he said, borrowing a phrase from German Chancellor Bismarck, meaning to go and ask for forgiveness.
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