Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ALGIERS747
2006-04-24 09:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

EXCHANGE OF HARSH WORDS BETWEEN ALGERIA AND FRANCE

Tags:  PREL AG FR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAS #0747/01 1140906
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 240906Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0929
INFO RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0029
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1243
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 8444
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0146
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1777
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 1291
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 6131
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000747 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2016
TAGS: PREL AG FR
SUBJECT: EXCHANGE OF HARSH WORDS BETWEEN ALGERIA AND FRANCE
SIGN OF INCREASINGLY TENSE RELATIONSHIP

REF: ALGIERS 451

Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

SUMMARY AND COMMENT
--------------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000747

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2016
TAGS: PREL AG FR
SUBJECT: EXCHANGE OF HARSH WORDS BETWEEN ALGERIA AND FRANCE
SIGN OF INCREASINGLY TENSE RELATIONSHIP

REF: ALGIERS 451

Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

SUMMARY AND COMMENT
--------------


1. (C) Algerian Foreign Minister Bedjaoui's successful April
12-13 visit to Washington, on the heels of what has been
widely viewed as the French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy's
disastrous April 9-10 visit to Algiers, has underscored the
dynamic nature of Algeria's growing relationship with the
United States (and to a lesser extent with Russia). Both
visits took place against the backdrop of a French-Algerian
Friendship Treaty stalled over Algeria's insistence that
France acknowledge negative aspects of its colonizing role.
The tone of the exchanges over France's colonizing role
reached a low point during President Bouteflika's April 16
visit to Constantine, where he denounced France's "genocide
of (Algerian) identity." And Douste-Blazy compounded
tensions by lecturing that relations should be based on the
future, not rancor, and by suggesting that the "horror" of
the French occupation was limited to the period of the
initial conquest (i.e. 1830). The official Algerian
government daily El Moudjahid declined to respond directly to
Douste-Blazy's criticism of Bouteflika's remarks but instead
showcased positive articles on both U.S. and Russian
relations. The rest of the Algerian press has joined in
highlighting the growing gap between Russian/U.S. relations
with Algeria and those of France and the EU.


2. (C) At the same time, the press has noted the irony and
inconsistency of Bouteflika's traveling to France, only four
days after his genocide remarks, for a post-operative medical
checkup. Reflecting a sense that the rhetoric and tensions
had gone too far, Bouteflika quietly sent his Diplomatic
Adviser Rahal, post-independent Algeria's first ambassador to
France, as a special envoy to begin to calm the waters.
Given both sides' inextricable web of interests and ties, we
expect current tensions and rhetoric will dissipate and work
on the Friendship Treaty will eventually resume. But for
now, emotions are too raw and it will take some time before
any real progress can be made, especially as long as
Douste-Blazy, one of the authors of the infamous French law

praising colonialism's "positive" contributions, remains a
lightning rod for criticism. (End Summary and Comment.)

FRANCE'S PAST ROLE KEY TO FRIENDSHIP TREATY
--------------


3. (SBU) Relations between France and Algeria have become
increasingly tense over recent weeks, and publicly reported
diplomatic exchanges have become harsher in tone. Over
several months, the French and Algerian governments have
worked to conclude a Friendship Treaty, whose finalization
requires surmounting the hurdle of the French colonial
period. Ever since the French Parliament passed last year a
non-binding resolution touting French colonialism's positive
contribution in Algeria, there has been a slowly building
sense of outrage as well as escalating demands for a French
apology that produced an impasse. As the Friendship Treaty
has gone, so has the relationship. French FM Philippe
Douste-Blazy's April 9-10 visit to Algiers, designed to
reinvigorate work on the Algerian-French Friendship Treaty,
instead was widely viewed as a "fiasco", in part because FM
Bedjaoui, at a joint press conference, bluntly said many
differences remained and the French political class was
simply not ready to turn the page on history and apologize
for France's actions. FM Bedjaoui's April 12-14 visit to the
U.S., where he noted that ties with France were stalled and
that "France did not have the same weight as the U.S. in
Algeria," reinforced the contrasting images of
French-Algerian disarray and expanding Algeria-U.S. ties.
Diplomats and the press also had a field day contrasting the
presentation of our 1795 treaty with Algeria with France's
inability to conclude such a treaty even now.

BOUTEFLIKA DENOUNCES "GENOCIDE," AND
FRANCE CALLS FOR SOFTENING OF RHETORIC
--------------


4. (U) France's refusal to apologize for its colonial
stewardship of Algeria, apart from giving the Algerian

political class a platform for unabashed grandstanding, has
genuinely angered average Algerians. Days after Bedjaoui's
perhaps overly frank assessment of French influence in
Algeria, President Bouteflika denounced "the genocide of
(Algerian) identity," during the French colonial period.
Douste-Blazy, one of the authors of the controversial 2005
legislation, provoked further indignation in an April 19
interview, in which he lectured that policy must be built on
the future, not rancor, and that in any case the "horrors" of
the French occupation were confined to the period of the
actual conquest (i.e., 1830!).

RUSSIA AND U.S. RELATIONS JUXTAPOSED TO THOSE WITH FRANCE
-------------- --------------


5. (U) The April 20 issue of El Moudjahid, the official
government daily, did not respond directly to Douste-Blazy's
remarks but provided a response all the same under the
headline, "Rise in Power of Relations," referring to the
Algerian-U.S. relationship. The article pointed to
increasing military cooperation and the U.S.-Algerian common
enemy of terrorism and pointedly noted that "the United
States recognized ... (the Algerian counter-terrorism)
experience, which is instructive to the world." The article
concludes, "It is under the spirit of beneficial cooperation
for both partners in all domains where common interests have
been identified that American officials make official visits
to construct cooperative and multi-dimensional relations."
Below the U.S. article was another highlighting growing
cooperation between Algeria and Russia. Press commentaries
in recent days have emphasized that Algeria's relations with
both the U.S. and Russia are outpacing the progress of
relations with the European Union and its members.

ERDMAN