In his tiny bedroom measuring barely 10m2 at Aïn El-Turk near Oran in north-west Algeria, Hmida sits down on the untidy sheets on his single bed, then stubs out the cigarette that had been lodged in his mouth until just a few seconds before. Aged 80, and never married, this man from the Oran area lives on what he can eke out from fishing and the support of his neighbours.
The remains of today's breakfast are still scattered on a low table. “What's that lovely cooking you're doing?” asks his friend, 30 years his junior, pointing to the pot on the stove.
The younger man often comes to see his friend. And today, on Thursday March 3rd, just two weeks from the 60th anniversary of the Évian Accords which brought an end to the Algerian War and ensured Algerian independence from France, his visit encourages Hmida to sift through the memories of his youth. “At the time I was 20 years old,” he says in darija, the Algerian dialect which is the only language he knows, having calculated the figure from his date of birth. “As far as I'm concerned the Évian Accords were first and foremost about 'Tahtaha',” he says, referring to the location of a deadly car bomb attack in Oran. “I remember the dead in the street, the violence of the attack...”
Enlargement : Illustration 1
His face lined with wrinkles, Hmida recalls how the attack carried out in Place Tahtaha in the working class M’dine Jdida neighbourhood in central Oran by the virulently anti-independence French group the Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) on February 28th 1962 – two weeks before the signing of the Évian Accords – had devastated the lives of ordinary residents of Oran and dashed their hopes for peace after eight years of war and resistance.
“It happened when the accords were supposedly being negotiated. It was one of the worst attacks that the city of Oran experienced during the war of independence,” he said. In all, some 80 people were killed and around a hundred injured. And the attack remains etched in the city's collective memory.
During an improvised gathering between various activist groups on March 9th in the working class neighbourhood of El Hamri, 'Mohamed' – not his real name – also spoke about the deadly attack that took place at Place Tahtaha. “My memory of the Évian Accords is of the OAS massacre,” he said. “I remember a dead man who was being pulled by his arms down the road to put him under cover. It was horrific.”
Another man at the same gathering noted: “Even though the accords were signed two weeks later, everyone was still affected by that event. That's also why the people of Oran were muted in their celebrations on March 19th [1962] when the ceasefire was announced. People were very afraid that other attacks would follow.”
There were celebrations on the day but unfortunately it was followed by terrible acts of violence afterwards!
Negotiated secretly over several months leading up to their March 18th signing, in particular during February 1962 at Les Rousses, near France's border with Switzerland, the Évian Accords allowed the French army to remain in Algeria until the referendum leading to the country's independence. Under the accords' provisions, the so-called 'pieds-noirs' ('black feet') – Europeans born and/or resident in Algeria – were also able to become Algerian within three years or be granted the status of foreign resident, though most chose to leave.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
Hmida recalled the scenes of celebration on the day of the ceasefire, March 19th, in Oran though these were “not as great as those of July 5th”, the date on which Algerian independence was officially proclaimed. An aeroplane even flew over the city dropping leaflets telling the population about the ceasefire. “We were happy, relieved to know that there was a ceasefire at last. People poured through the streets, calling on people, buying food,” he stated.
But in the end the ceasefire did not last. The OAS, which stated that it rejected “General De Gaulle's ceasefire” - referring to the French president Charles De Gaulle - stepped up the violence in the following months, in particular in the capital Algiers and Oran. Dozens were killed and wounded in bomb attacks and targeted murders. “There were celebrations on the day but, alas, it was followed by terrible acts of violence afterwards,” said a woman from Oran in her eighties whose parents were in the Algerian resistance movement at the time.
'A massive con'
Other residents dismissed the Évian Accords, which were supposed to mark the end of the war of independence and lead to cooperation between France and Algeria, as a “massive con”. “It was a farce. We've spoken a lot about the Évian Accords but we've forgotten the hidden agreements, those that the people didn't know about, or not till later,” said 'Latifa' bitterly. In her fifties, Latifa - not her real name - is a member of a local association and former activist in the 'Hirak', the large-scale social protest movement that began in Algeria in February 2019.
Enlargement : Illustration 3
“For example, there were the French interests that were preserved in the Sahara for its nuclear programme, with military bases kept, such as the one at Mers-el-Kébir; the harm caused to the people by the nuclear tests, and also there was the redivision of the territory between Morocco and Algeria which still causes conflict between the two countries today, and which stems from the Évian negotiations...” she said.
Latifa also attacked the “appropriation of Algerian resources” with the rights negotiated by France at the time of the Évian Accords guaranteeing it “certain privileges”. She said: “Gas and oil were sold off to the French under a clause agreed during these accords, with preferential rates thanks to the payment for hydrocarbons being in francs.”
It was not until 1965 that a new agreement was signed between the two countries. Then, six years later, the Algerian president Houari Boumédiène decided to nationalise his country's gas and oil industry, having trained hundred of technicians and engineers to take over the work. The aim was to give the country economic independence and free it from the chains of the former colonial power, which had taken pains - during the Évian Accords and the period before the country officially became independent - to shore up its interests there.
“Nor were we told that, while the French were leaving, other henchmen were being trained to carry on the same work in their place,” said Latifa. “Since the Hirak we have come to realise the involvement of the top military leaders in the stranglehold that has been put on Algeria, especially when it comes to raw materials. Everything has been done to ensure that Algeria doesn't take off, as if there were a ban on allowing the country to go through a process of development. When you see the money that the oligarchs move out of the country, it's terrible.”
Her conclusions about the country are not optimistic either. “Algeria is a cash cow and that will last as long as the system, which France maintains, is in place,” said Latifa. “The banners and slogans used during the [protest] marches often make reference to France and sum up the situation well. They fooled us, they stole our independence. In one way or another, Algerians still remain dependent on the former coloniser.”
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- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter