The Algerian president has called on France and Algeria to abandon the "complexes" of the past in order to develop relations in the new era.
"The relations between the two countries need – in order to cool down – for France to liberate itself from its colonizer complex and Algeria from its colonized complex," Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in an interview to French newspaper Le Figaro.
He also added that Algeria of today is "different than what it was in 1962"; thus, Tebboune noted, the country's image has to change as well.
Talking about the decision to set up commissions of historians on both the French and Algerian sides, Tebboune stressed the need to "depoliticize and leave to history certain parts of the colonization."
"We must take into account the 132 years of occupation because everything does not start with the war of independence. There are proven, archived, documented facts, which we cannot hide – writings attest to them," he underlined.
He also recalled that France conducted nuclear tests in southern Algeria in the colonial era. The president demanded that France "decontaminate the nuclear test scenes at Reggane and Tamanrasset and cover medical treatments of the people in those areas."
Moreover, the leader of the Arab country declared that he plans an official visit to Paris in 2023. He expressed optimism concerning mutual understanding with his French colleague Emmanuel Macron, whom he deemed "the incarnation of a new generation that can save the relations between the two countries."