{"id":48751,"date":"2022-03-18T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=48751"},"modified":"2022-03-18T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T08:55:00","slug":"60th-anniversary-of-the-evian-peace-accords-between-france-and-algeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/60th-anniversary-of-the-evian-peace-accords-between-france-and-algeria\/","title":{"rendered":"60th anniversary of the Evian peace accords between France and Algeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

France and Algeria’s signing of the Evian Accords on 18 March 1962 marked the end of nearly eight years of bloody conflict and paved the war for Algerian independence from France.<\/p>\n

The peace agreement was signed in Evian-les-Bains, 60 years ago today, between representatives of the French government and the government-in-exile of the National Liberation Front (FLN).<\/p>\n

The settlement called for an immediate ceasefire and ended the eight year bloody battle for Algerian independence, at least on paper.<\/p>\n

Tough negotiations had been going on in secret for months.<\/p>\n

They focused on four main areas: guarantees for the\u00a0pied-noir<\/em>\u00a0settler population which wanted to remain in Algeria; sovereignty over the Sahara and its oil deposits; the status of France\u2019s military bases and rights to nuclear testing on Algerian soil, and the framework governing future associations between France and an independent Algeria.<\/p>\n

France managed to hold on to its oil extraction rights and nuclear testing sites, but the French remained deeply divided over handing over Algeria after 132 years of colonial rule.<\/p>\n

The final agreement provoked controversy on both sides: hardliners on the French mainland thought too much had been handed to Algeria, while more radical factions of the FLN in Algeria thought they had obtained too little.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, for General Charles de Gaulle it was a victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe measures have been adopted so that people can control their own destiny, \u201c he announced in a televised address.<\/p>\n

A ceasefire was signed the following day.<\/p>\n

And a few months later, in July, Algeria became independent following a referendum.<\/p>\n

Half a million dead, or more<\/h5>\n

No precise figures are available for how many people were killed during the 1954-1962 conflict, but historians estimate some half a million civilians and combatants died, the vast majority Algerian.<\/p>\n

\n

Algerian authorities insist the figure is three times higher.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It took France nearly 40 years to officially acknowledge that \u201cthe events in North Africa\u201d actually constituted a war.<\/p>\n

And while France has made tentative attempts to heal the wounds, it still refuses to \u201capologise or repent\u201d for 132 years of often brutal colonial rule.<\/p>\n

Exodus<\/h4>\n

In the space of a few months of independence, one million\u00a0pieds-noirs<\/em>, settlers of European extraction, fled to France.<\/p>\n

They often ended up living alongside Algerian immigrants. Many would later become the backbone of the French far right.<\/p>\n

Some Algerians who fought for the French, known as\u00a0Harkis<\/em>, were executed or tortured in Algeria, but their numbers are highly contested.<\/p>\n

Another 60,000 ended up in squalid internment camps in France.<\/p>\n