"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Sarkozy 'owes Algeria apology'

Algiers - An influential Algerian war veterans' leader was quoted as saying on Thursday that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, due to visit Algeria next week, was not welcome until he apologised for the colonial past.Sarkozy was due to visit the oil and gas exporting country, France's main Africa trade partner, to lobby for French business and seek to deepen France's often uneasy ties with a country of increasing importance to European energy security.The dates were expected to be announced later on Thursday.Mohamed Said Abadou, secretary-general of the influential National Organisation of Fighters, which represented veterans of the 1954-62 independence war, was quoted as saying by El Khabar newspaper: "As the National Organisation of Fighters we, say that Sarkozy is not welcome in Algeria ... and we won't turn the page with France until we get an apology."
Bouteflika 'knows our position'
He said: "They don't want to admit their crimes against our people ... Civil society in France is innocent, but we are speaking of the government, the state and the French parliament."Abadou, a former government minister, did not have the status of a state official in his current post, but his organisation wielded power in all parts of the administration because veterans were seen as revolutionary heroes.The newspaper also quoted Abadou as saying President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "knows our positions very well with regard to the French government and state".
Algeria was invaded by France in 1830 and became a colony with more than one million French settlers. A war begun in 1954 by Algerian fighters cost hundreds of thousands of lives - Algiers said 1.5 million - before it led to independence in 1962.The road to normal relations had been bumpy. In 2005, Bouteflika called on France to apologise for crimes committed during colonial rule. French authorities responded by calling for "mutual respect".Earlier this week, Algeria's Minister of War Veterans Mohamed Cherif Abbas said of Sarkozy's visit: "It's a courtesy visit, nothing more, which aims to maintain existing relations while we wait to see what the future has in store."

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