France made a new attempt on Thursday to fix an annual day of remembrance for those who died in the 1954-62 Algerian war and independence struggles in Morocco and Tunisia that ended more than a century of French colonial rule. The Socialist-controlled Senate postponed to November 20 a vote on a bill setting the memorial date after a debate with right-wing opponents of the measure overran the allotted time.
The bill, which had gathered dust for 10 years, is expected to be approved next month. That could mark another step towards warmer relations with Algiers as Paris seeks its backing for an African-led military intervention against Islamist militants in northern Mali. Although the motion's main aim is to settle a spat over the most appropriate date to remember hundreds of thousands of dead on both sides, it may also be read as a gesture of reconciliation before a planned visit by President Francois Hollande to Algiers in December.
"It is of the utmost importance for us. We've been fighting for this for 50 years," said Guy Darmanin, head of a federation of war veterans who fought in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. "Inside France it may be controversial, but as far as relations with Algeria go, it should only improve them." A draft law to mark the March 19, 1962 cease-fire as a day of remembrance was approved in the National Assembly in 2002 but then set aside after opponents, mainly on the right, said it would stir old hatreds and insult colonials who had to flee. A decade on, 50 years after the war in Algeria ended and with the left now in power in France, Socialist senators dug up the bill and submitted it for a vote in the upper house.
The Socialists have had a majority in the Senate since late last year and a vote in favour will take the proposal into law, given backing from the lower house 10 years ago. Opponents have suggested alternative dates in October or December to mark the end of the Algerian war to allow for the fact that months of bloodshed followed the March 19 peace accord signed in the French town of Evian.