Our next story is from Algeria.
It’s a country in North Africa.
For more than a century, Algeria was ruled by France.
France invaded Algeria in 1830 and colonized it for 132 years.
That period was marked by land seizures, force displacements, torture, and mass killings.
It ended only after a bloody war of independence in 1962.
Why are we talking about this history today? Because it has come back to the center of politics.
Yesterday, Algeria passed a major law.
It declared France’s colonial rule a crime.
The law calls for an official apology from Paris and it also demands reparations for colonial era abuses.
France has pushed back against this law, calling the move quote unquote hostile.
But Algeria says its national memory is not negotiable.
And look at the timing of this move.
Ties between Paris and Alers are already under strain and have already been under strain in recent months.
This new law only adds fuel to that.
Here’s a report.
Algeria has reopened a chapter many thought was closed, not through negotiations or quiet diplomacy, but through its parliament.
This week, lawmakers gathered in Alers for a rare unanimous vote.
They passed a law.
That law declared French colonial rule a crime.
Inside the chamber, the moment was charged.
Members waved national flags, chanted slogans, and applauded as the bill was approved.
The law places legal responsibility on France for its colonial past in Algeria.
It also calls for an official apology and it demands reparations for the damages caused during more than a century of colonial rule.
We have the political will to condemn French colonization for the indescribable crimes it committed against the Algerian people during the French occupation of Algeria and to tell France and the French state to bear the responsibility for the crimes committed by colonial France against the Algerian people.
To understand the weight of this vote, you have to look back.
France invaded Algeria in 1830.
What followed after was 132 years of colonial rule.
Algeria was treated as part of France.
But its indigenous population lived under a different system.
Land was seized.
Political rights were denied.
Economic power rested with European settlers.
That rule ended only after a brutal war of independence between 1954 and 1962.
Alers says 1.
5 million people were killed.
French historians give lower estimates, but the violence left deep scars on both sides.
Now, Algeria says that history can no longer be managed quietly.
Today when we refer to criminalizing this colonization which is a precedent in the history of criminalizing it means that it will have significant repercussions across Africa.
The timing of the law matters too.
Relations between Algeria and France are already strained.
Tensions rose last year after Paris recognized Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara.
Algeria supports the Policario front and their demand for self-determination.
That disagreement reopened diplomatic fault lines.
It was followed by arrests, expulsions, and stalled dialogue.
Against that backdrop, this vote sends a pointed signal.
France has condemned the move.
Its foreign ministry called the law hostile and warned it could undermine efforts to repair relations.
French President Emanuel Mcron has previously described colonization in Algeria as a crime against humanity, but he has stopped short of offering an apology.
Algerian lawmakers say that’s not longer.
Regarding the law criminalizing colonization, we will demand reparations in the future for the resources that were looted and plundered from Algeria.
Legally, the law does not bind France.
It carries no international enforcement.
But politically, it matters.
It hardens Algeria’s position and narrows the space for compromise.
The vote is also being watched beyond Paris.
Across Africa, demands are growing for recognition of colonial era crimes and the return of artifacts, remains, and archives.
Algeria’s law does not compel action or change the international law, but it draws a line.
It pulls colonial history back into the center of modern politics.
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