A row simmered in France on Friday over an invitation to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to attend ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of World War Two Allied landings on the French south coast.
The invitation has upset some members of French President Jacques Chirac's ruling conservative UMP party who object to a remark Bouteflika made during a visit to France in 2000, when he compared Algerians who fought for France in Algeria's 1954-1962 war of independence - known as harkis - to Nazi collaborators.
Bouteflika should "try to make up for this terrible word for the harkis who supported France and who are often the sons of former fighters who took part in the landings in 1944", one UMP member, Claude Goasguen, said.
Chirac and leaders from 16 African states which took part in the landings on August 15, 1944, are due to attend ceremonies on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off France's Mediterranean coast on Sunday.
Lower-level delegations representing other countries which took part, such as Britain and the United States, will also attend memorial events in which 7,500 sailors and 28 French and foreign vessels are to take part in a naval review.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier tried to calm the dispute on Wednesday by declaring in a letter to the UMP protesters: "The Algerians obviously fully merit their place at the commemorations."
Other issues have also marred preparations, undermining the government's efforts to use the anniversary to highlight cooperation with African countries including former colonies.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade suggested at a news conference in Dakar on Friday that France did not fully appreciate the role played by Africans in its liberation.
"It is unfair not to teach French children that France's liberty is also due to the fact that we - like many other countries - took part," Wade said.
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is not attending the ceremonies, although he was invited.