Algeria-France: first meeting of the joint commission of historians on November 21

Published on November 20, 2023

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Fifteen months after the announcement of its creation, in August 2022 during Emmanuel Macron's three-day visit to Algeria, the joint commission of Algerian-French historians will officially begin its work on November 21. Its members meet at Constantine, in eastern Algeria, from Tuesday to Friday, November 24, learned Young Africa from a source close to the case. This is the first time that the ten historians have met in the same place to discuss the themes of la colonization and the Algerian War.

The members of this joint body had already met on April 19, as part of a videoconference held between Paris and Algiers in order to get to know each other and clear up the the land before the start of their work. These first discussions, which lasted an hour and a half, saw the participation of five French historians, Benjamin Stora, Florence Hudowicz, Jacques Frémeaux, Jean-Jacques Jordi and Tramor Quemeneur, and de their Algerian counterparts, Mohamed El Korso, Idir Hachi, Abdelaziz Filali, Mohamed Lahcen Zighidi and Djamel Yahiaoui.

“Frank and warm exchanges”

“This first contact went well,” he said at the time. Benjamin Stora, who chairs the committee french side. The exchanges were frank and warm. We emphasized the fact that this commission must preserve its independent character with regard to political powers. » Author of the report on French colonization and war of Algeria handed over to Emmanuel Macron in January 2021, Benjamin Stora proposes as a first axis of work the period which extends from the start of colonization, in 1830, until 1880, which coincides with the end of the first great conquests de Algeria.

The creation of this joint commission responsible for studying the Algerian and French archives relating to the colonial period, from 1830 to 1962, was announced in August 2022. The initiative to set up this mixed group of historians and experts is nee of the meeting, a month earlier, between the Algerian president and Benjamin Stora.

The other members of the French delegation are also specialists of the period. Tramor Quemeneur, doctor in history, teacher at the University of Paris-VIII and à Paris-Cergy-Université, member of the Memoirs and Truth Commission and of the Orientation Council of the National Museum of the History of Immigration (MNHI), will be the secretary general of the French side. He co-authored two works with Benjamin Stora on war from Algeria.