French president visits Algeria as colonial wounds still fester

French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in the country’s former colony Algeria on a visit aimed at boosting the North African nation’s gas deliveries to Europe amid a rapidly worsening energy crisis in the continent.

Macron's office claimed his three-day visit to the energy-rich Algeria – which marked the 60th anniversary of its independence this year -- aims to "lay a foundation to rebuild and develop" a sometimes difficult relationship with the nation whose existence before French occupation he questioned last year.

"We didn't choose the past, we inherited it," Macron asserted at a joint press conference Thursday evening alongside his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, vowing to open a “new page” in bilateral ties.

"We must look at it and recognize it, but we have a responsibility to build our future for ourselves and our youth," said Macron, the first French president to be born since Algerian independence in 1962.

Tebboune, for his part, hailed the "positive dynamic" in their ties, pointing to "promising prospects for improving the special partnership that binds us."

The new-found warmth comes after particularly stormy relations between the two leaders last year when Macron questioned Algeria's existence as a nation before the French occupation and accused its government of fomenting "hatred towards France."

Tebboune at the time withdrew Algeria’s ambassador to Paris and banned French military aircraft from its airspace.

Macron's office said he "regretted" the misunderstandings caused by his remarks, and his aides insist that both sides have moved on, alluding to the resumption of normal diplomatic ties and overflights to French army bases in sub-Saharan Africa.

The French president also announced on Thursday that the two countries would set up a joint commission of historians to study archives on France's 130 years of colonial rule in Algeria, including the devastating eight-year war of independence.

The new mending of ties between Paris and Algiers comes as the two countries have experienced repeated crises over the years.

ME