Sharjah24 – AFP: President Emmanuel Macron called Friday for a "new pact" with Algeria and "truth and recognition" of the past, on day two of a visit to France's former colony aimed at mending troubled ties.
The trip follows months of tensions between Paris and the North African country, which earlier this year marked six decades of independence following 132 years of French rule.
The three-day visit also comes as European powers scramble to replace Russian energy imports -- including with supplies from Algeria, Africa's top gas exporter, which in turn is seeking a greater regional role.
Macron had proclaimed a "new page" in relations on Thursday, after meeting President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and announcing the creation of a joint commission of historians to examine the colonial period and the devastating eight-year war that ended it, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
On Friday, Macron -- the first French president to be born after Algerian independence in 1962, told journalists he wanted "the truth, and recognition, otherwise we'll never move forward".
And on Saturday Macron and Tebboune are to sign "a joint declaration for a renewed, concrete and ambitious partnership", the French presidency said.
Addressing members of the French community in Algeria later Friday, Macron spoke of his love for the North African country.
"Many people want to promote the idea that France should hate Algeria, or Algeria should hate France," he said.
"But we are at a moment where we can build a new pact."
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