Macron Admitting To French Torture In Algeria Good But Insufficient Gesture - Activist

French President Emmanuel Macron's gesture to admit the responsibility of the French army for torture committed during the decolonization war in Algeria was the right step, albeit an insufficient one, since he still had to bring justice to all the families who lost their loved ones and open all archives to the public,

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2018) French President Emmanuel Macron's gesture to admit the responsibility of the French army for torture committed during the decolonization war in Algeria was the right step, albeit an insufficient one, since he still had to bring justice to all the families who lost their loved ones and open all archives to the public, Nassera Dutour, the spokeswoman for the Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA), told Sputnik.

Last week, Macron publicly admitted that the French army was responsible for the torture and death of Maurice Audin, a French mathematician in Algiers who joined the Algerian Communist Party and disappeared in 1957 after being arrested by French paratroopers.

"We are very happy that it happened. But now we have to see what follows: will we see the whole truth? Whether one would be able to consult the archives? Would it give the truth about the death of all the people who disappeared during the war in Algeria?" Dutour, who also heads the Euro-Mediterranean Federation on Forced Disappearances (FEMED), wondered.

Dutour said that Macron's move had to be followed by action, and that the recognition of guilt by France was not enough for those who spent decades not knowing what happened to their husbands and children.

"An excuse, an apology is not enough. We need to know everything. The whole truth. I am the mother of a man, who disappeared, and now they would tell me 'sorry if he is dead, or dead of torture, or maybe he is alive, sorry for all these years.' No, it's not enough. One needs to know, how and what for. Why did I have to fight all these years like Audin's family did, so that finally we have nothing but recognition? This part of the history we already know, we want to know the other one ... President Macron made the first step, but he has to make other steps, first step is not enough. One needs to go to the bottom of things, to get to the bottom of the truth," the activist said.

The Algerian War (1954-1962) led to Algeria gaining independence from France, which was eager to keep control over its North African colony. It was marked by brutalities on both sides, and was complicated by a civil war between different communities. It also led to a political crisis in France.