Algerian war veteran opposes Sarkozy visit
Friday, November 30, 2007
AN INFLUENTIAL Algerian war veterans' leader was quoted as saying yesterday that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, due to visit Algeria next week, was not welcome until he apologised for the colonial past.
Sarkozy is due to visit the oil and gas exporting country, France's main Africa trade partner, to lobby for French business and seek to deepen France's often uneasy ties with a country of increasing importance to European energy security.
The dates were expected to be announced later.
Mohamed Said Abadou, secretary general of the influential National Organisation of Fighters (Organisation Nationale des Moudjahidine), which represents veterans of the 1954-62 independence war, was quoted as saying by El Khabar newspaper:
"As the National Organisation of Fighters we, say that Sarkozy is not welcome in Algeria ... and we won't turn the page with France until we get an apology," he said.
"They don't want to admit their crimes against our people ... Civil society in France is innocent but we are speaking of the government, the state and the French parliament."
Abadou, a former government minister, does not have the status of a state official in his current post, but his organisation weilds power in all parts of the administration because veterans are seen as revolutionary heroes.
The newspaper also quoted Abadou as saying President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "knows our positions very well with regard to the French government and state".
Algeria was invaded by France in the year 1830 and became a colony and establishment with more than one million French settlers.Reuters
Sarkozy is due to visit the oil and gas exporting country, France's main Africa trade partner, to lobby for French business and seek to deepen France's often uneasy ties with a country of increasing importance to European energy security.
The dates were expected to be announced later.
Mohamed Said Abadou, secretary general of the influential National Organisation of Fighters (Organisation Nationale des Moudjahidine), which represents veterans of the 1954-62 independence war, was quoted as saying by El Khabar newspaper:
"As the National Organisation of Fighters we, say that Sarkozy is not welcome in Algeria ... and we won't turn the page with France until we get an apology," he said.
"They don't want to admit their crimes against our people ... Civil society in France is innocent but we are speaking of the government, the state and the French parliament."
Abadou, a former government minister, does not have the status of a state official in his current post, but his organisation weilds power in all parts of the administration because veterans are seen as revolutionary heroes.
The newspaper also quoted Abadou as saying President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "knows our positions very well with regard to the French government and state".
Algeria was invaded by France in the year 1830 and became a colony and establishment with more than one million French settlers.Reuters
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