Algerian parliament brands French colonisation a crime, demands apology and reparations

Algeria’s parliament voted unanimously to declare France’s 130-year colonisation of the country a crime, calling for a formal apology and reparations from Paris. The largely symbolic move comes amid a widening diplomatic rift between the two countries and underscores the enduring sensitivity of the North African country's colonial past, ‘France24’ reports.

Standing in the chamber, lawmakers wearing scarves in the colours of the national flag chanted, "Long live Algeria" as they applauded the passage of the bill, which states that France holds "legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused".

The vote comes as the two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis, and while analysts say the move is largely symbolic it is still politically significant.

Parliament speaker Brahim Boughali told the APS state news agency before the vote that it would send "a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria's national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable".

The legislation lists the "crimes of French colonisation", including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, "physical and psychological torture" and the "systematic plundering of resources".

It states that "full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people".

France's rule over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 remains a sore spot in relations between the two countries. The period was marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, all the way up to the bloody war of independence from 1954-1962.

Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people while French historians put the death toll lower, at 500,000 in total, some 400,000 of them Algerian.

Parliament members vote on a bill seeking to criminalize France's colonisation, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025 at the National Assembly in Algiers
Photo: AP

Bloomberg: Algeria advances Bill demanding France atone for 130-year occupation

Algeria’s parliament backed a bill demanding France apologize and pay reparations for its 130-year occupation of the North African country, likely escalating a simmering feud with Paris, Bloomberg reports.

Lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of the legislation that declares French colonialism a “state crime” and holds the country responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” during its 1830-1962 rule. It also makes any “glorification” of the period an offense.

The step comes as Algerian-French relations plumb their lowest point in decades, after President Emmanuel Macron last year supported neighboring Morocco’s rule over the disputed Western Sahara. That riled Algeria, which hosts a group waging a half-century battle for the territory’s independence.

Similar Algerian legislation was first proposed in 1984, and then several times this millennium when ties with Paris have been at a low ebb. It has never previously advanced through the lower chamber, and still needs approval from the upper house and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to become law.

The text of the bill comprises more than two-dozen articles, one of which classifies 27 forms of crimes related to French colonialism that include military attacks against civilians, excessive use of armed force and using unconventional weapons.

Another article demands France clean up sites contaminated by nuclear testing in Algeria’s southern desert in the 1960s and provide maps of the affected areas, as well as compensation for victims of the tests and their beneficiaries. It also calls for the restitution of “tangible” and “intangible” property, including national archives.

The bill criminalizes what it calls glorification of French colonialism in any form — including acts, writing and videos — and would impose a prison term of as long as 10 years and a fine of as much as 1 million dinars ($7,720) for those found guilty. It doesn’t precisely define what would count as glorifying.

The bill “is not directed against any people, nor does it seek revenge or fuel hatred,” the head of parliament, Ibrahim Boughali, told the chamber earlier this month. “Rather, it is based on the established principle that crimes against humanity cannot be erased by the passage of time, justified by force or silenced.”

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