Ceremony at the Martyrs Memorial, attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in Algiers, on August 25, 2022. CYRIL BITTON/DIVERGENCE FOR LE MONDE
By announcing, on Friday, May 8, the return of Ambassador Stéphane Romatet to Algiers – after he had been recalled to Paris in April 2025 – as part of a new offer of political and historical appeasement to Algeria, Emmanuel Macron hopes to pull bilateral relations out of their most severe crisis since 1962. But will this gesture be enough to heal the rift?
The French president chose what could be his last diplomatic move with Algeria before leaving the Elysée on a symbolic occasion: the 81st anniversary of the massacres of May 8, 1945, in Setif, Guelma and Kherrata (between 15,000 and 20,000 Algerians were killed, compared to about 100 Europeans). Alice Rufo, minister delegate for the armed forces and veterans, is traveling to Setif to "commemorate the tragic events that took place there on May 8, 1945," according to a statement from the Elysée released Friday morning.
"It is the truth of our history, and it is France's honor to face it," the presidential palace declared, recalling that "the repression of demonstrations in the cities of Setif, Guelma and Kherrata [lasted] several weeks [and caused] thousands of victims."
