Algeria: Juppe, "we will not rehash forever" the colonial past

Algiers –MAP- The head of French diplomacy Alain Juppe called Thursday in Algiers "not to rehash forever" the colonial past but to concentrate to see what France and Algeria can do in a changing world in their mutual interest.

"We are looking to the future and not to the past we will not dwell forever" the colonial past, he said at a joint press conference with his counterpart Mourad Medelci.

"If we could get a little bit of this eternal rehashing of the past to see what France and Algeria may be in a world that is changing around us with considerable development opportunities for our mutual benefit, I think it would be much better than asking again about what happened a century ago, there are 40 or even 50 years," he replied to a question about a "repentance" of France for its colonial past.

Algeria was a French colony for 132 years and she is freed by force in a bloody war of independence in 1962. She prepares to celebrate in 2012 its 50 years of independence.

The issue of repentance always comes back in some political circles and in the press when it comes to France in Algeria.

"President (Nicolas Sarkozy) had very clear words on the injustice of colonialism," also recalled Mr. Juppe, the first French Foreign Minister to visit Algeria since 2008.