Monday 16/February/2026 – 05:50 AM
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune affirmed his country’s full readiness to present historical documents, material evidence and vivid testimonies proving the scale of crimes and violations committed by French colonialism before African legal bodies.
This came in a speech he delivered on behalf of the President, Prime Minister Sefi Gharib, during the 39th African Union Summit held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where Tebboune stressed his country’s support for the draft study prepared by the Union’s Legal Committee, which classifies French colonial practices as “crimes against humanity” and acts of “genocide” with no statute of limitations.
Algeria demands international recognition and compensation for French colonial crimes
The Algerian President stressed that this move comes in parallel with internal legislative steps, most notably the Algerian Parliament’s unanimous vote on a law criminalizing colonialism and demanding that France provide an official apology and fair compensation for decades of repression, nuclear testing, and the systematic plunder of national wealth.
Tebboune explained that Algeria seeks to establish explicit international recognition of the criminal nature of colonialism, stressing that these initiatives aim to strengthen the principles of accountability and prevent impunity, ensuring the establishment of historical justice for peoples who have been subjected to grave violations through decades of denial of facts and injustice.
These Algerian steps come within the framework of continental diplomatic efforts aimed at placing the colonial issue on the international agenda and restoring historical rights to the peoples of the African continent who suffered from marginalization and persecution during the colonial era.
