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For tangible actions.
Algerian representatives within the Algerian-French Joint Commission on History and Memory presented an open list of historical and symbolic properties of 19th century Algeria, as well as archives, preserved in different French institutions, which Paris must return to Algeria in the form of symbolic gestures.
This is what emerges from the conclusions of the 5e meeting of the Algerian-French Joint Commission on History and Memory, whose work was held at the headquarters of the National Archives in Birkhadem, Algiers, on May 22 and 23. They coincide with Memory Month in Algeria.
According to a press release from this commission, released this Monday, the members pleaded for tangible actions to take into account all dimensions of the history of the colonial period.
According to the press release, the French part of the joint commission of historians “would like to warmly thank its Algerian counterparts and the various institutions it met for their welcome and the presentation of their rich funds, during the visits carried out from 20 to May 24”, noting that the mixed Algerian-French History and Memory commission “formulates the wish that the treatment of the memorial file responds to the aspirations of the Algerian and French people”.
This joint commission “insists on the need to continue negotiations within the framework of the joint Algerian-French discussion group on the question of archives,” notes the document.
In this sense, the Algerian side “invites the French side to convey its concerns regarding the restitution of cultural, archival and other property,” notes the press release, specifying that “the French side accepts and undertakes to convey to President Emmanuel Macron the list transmitted by the Algerian side so that the goods which can find their land of origin can be done so as quickly as possible.
In this regard, the Algerian-French joint commission “agrees to continue and complete the chronology relating to the military, political, economic, social, cultural and human fields during the 19th century”.
It welcomes cooperation in the areas of restoration and digitization, exchanges of experiences, bibliography, scientific (students and researchers) and cultural exchanges, promotion of places of memory in Algeria and France, digitization of civil status registers and registers of French cemeteries in Algeria, 19th century Algerian cemeteries in France, creation of a digital portal and organization of scientific meetings.
In this regard, the commission “welcomes the partnership perspectives outlined by the heads of the Interministerial Service of Archives of France (SIAF) and the National Library of France (BNF), during the visits organized by the commission, in particular with the National Archives Center of Algeria and the National Library of Algeria, particularly in the areas of scientific and technical cooperation, professional exchanges, training, digitization, and more broadly knowledge sharing (exhibitions, common inventories, etc.).”
In short, the joint commission expresses the wish that “body be given to the Declaration of Algiers (August 2022) and that the missions assigned to the joint commission come to fruition”.
The next meeting of the commission will be held in France at the beginning of July 2024. As a reminder, the coordinators of the two parties, Algerian and French, are respectively MM. Mohamed Lahcen Zeghidi and Benjamin Stora.