Macron, Algerian president, uphold positive bilateral relations dynamics

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Algerian counterpart via telephone Saturday for the first time since his inflammatory remarks sparked a political crisis four months ago.

Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune welcomed and agreed to continue the “positive dynamics of the bilateral relationship,” particularly in the security and economic fields, according to a statement from the French presidency.
The French president also extended an invitation for the forthcoming European-African summit in Brussels on Feb. 17 and 18 and addressed regional security and counter-terrorism issues in the Sahel region, the statement added.

The exchange also referred to Macron’s initiative for the “appeasement of the memories of colonization and the war in Algeria” with regard to research on the missing and the maintenance of European cemeteries in Algeria.

Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained since the former French colony won independence after the end of a bloody war in 1962.
Macron, who has taken several steps --even acknowledging the torture and abuses against freedom fighters -- to repair the fraught relationship, skidded on the dangerous slope in September when he accused its ruling dispensation of rewriting its historical past to foment anti-French hatred and questioning the existence of an Algerian nation before French colonial rule.

Tebboune had said that he would not make the first step to ease tensions and even turned down an invitation to attend a high-level international conference in Paris concerning Libya.
The thaw in relations came after Macron expressed regret for his comments and Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian met the head of the state in Algiers in December.