Officially, the independence of Algeria was proclaimed on July 3, 1962, following the referendum which consecrated it on the 1st within the framework of the “Evian Accords” of March 18, 1962.
While we have been celebrating the independence of Algeria every July 5 for more than fifty years, historians regularly rise up to remind us that Algeria became a sovereign and independent state on July 3 and not on the 5 which remains the day of the surrender of Dey Hussein and therefore of the fall of Algiers.
Thus, on July 3, 1962, De Gaule signed the declaration recognizing the independence of Algeria: “By the referendum of April 8, 1962, the French people approved the government declarations of March 19, 1962 which provide for the case where the Algerian populations consulted under the law of January 14, 1961 would choose to form an independent state cooperating with France. Consequently, relations between France and Algeria being henceforth based on the conditions defined by the government declarations of March 19, 1962, the President of the Republic declares that France solemnly recognizes the independence of Algeria. »
That day, at 4:26 p.m., the plane carrying the members of the GPRA came to a standstill on the tarmac of Maison-Blanche airport (currently Houari Boumediene). A large crowd awaits them in the distance. Benyoucef Benkhedda, the president, goes down the ladder first, to applause and ululations.
Abderrahmane Fares, President of the Provisional Executive since April 6, advances towards him and declares: “Mr. President, dear brothers, I have the honor to welcome you to the soil of the fatherland. Welcome. Long live independent Algeria”.
Benkhedda reviews an ALN battalion, while the national anthem is broadcast through a loudspeaker. Then, the president and his ministers get into the official cars, about twenty in all, and are escorted by Algerian police motorcyclists, towards the center of the capital. A huge crowd is positioned along the 20 kilometers of the route, hardly contained by ALN soldiers. Historical images of the president of the GPRA and his ministers parading, their hands raised to greet the Algerians happy to finally be free men.
The procession arrives in front of the prefecture. “Hold on, well, this is the first time we’ve entered this building without handcuffs,” exclaimed Saad Dahlab.
Benkhedda appears on the central balcony where the Algerian flag had been hoisted. The president and the ministers of the GPRA will spend their first Algerian night at the Summer Palace, the former residence of the governors general.
That same day, at 5:30 p.m., the 17th battalion of the ALN crossed the Algerian-Tunisian border. They will station along the Mauritius line parallel to the border while the men of wilaya II remain on the combat positions of the Challe line, about thirty kilometers inland from Algeria. While the people are still drunk on their newly acquired independence, a crisis is already looming at the top: the race for power.
Synthesis Khadija T.
Sources:
www.djazair50.dz/
https://lequotidienalgerie.org
“The misdeeds of colonization are moving away and the Algerians are tearing each other apart”, by Chabane Nordine (Moudjahid, author writer) In https://www.impact24.info
Translated from : https://babzman.com/cela-sest-passe-un-03-juillet-1962-lalgerie-est-independante/
