soc.culture.algeria

Salu-tutti,
it's about the time that France OFF-iciel admit and recognize it's
humancrimes in their dark colonial time but never trust france OFF-iciel
specially with Sarko-c at the head of the state.

Why France OFF-iciel didn't return algerian's archive ?


"Hakim Talbi" wrote : ..
> http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN824118.html
>
> France ready to help clean Algeria blast sites
> Thu 28 Feb 2008, 6:42 GMT
>
> ALGIERS (Reuters) - France is ready to carry out a new study of 1960s
> French nuclear test sites in Algeria and if necessary help clean up
> any pollution, France's ambassador in its former colony said in
> remarks published on Wednesday.
>
> The envoy, Bernard Bajolet, added in an interview with El Khabar
> newspaper that a year ago France had handed Algeria maps showing the
> extent of contamination and suggested steps that would need taking if
> Algeria ever wanted to develop the areas.
>
> Algerian commentators say French foot-dragging in acknowledging that
> harm was caused by the tests and in compensating victims has slowed
> efforts to improve ties between the two countries since a traumatic
> war for independence.
>
> Algerian and French army veterans who visited a test site last year
> said local people became ill after the blasts, some of which were
> carried out under an agreement with the first Algerian government
> after independence in 1962.
>
> France has denied any wrongdoing during its Saharan tests and says a
> report by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) specialists who
> toured the sites in 1999 found that none of the sites was likely to
> expose people to levels in excess of international safety norms.
>
> "We are waiting for the response of the (Algerian) government to
> suggestions we made on the basis of a report done by the IAEA,"
> Bajolet was quoted as saying.
>
> "And we are ready to carry out a new study and contribute if necessary
> to the clean-up operations," adding that this was something "that
> could have been done earlier".
>
> Of 13 underground tests carried out in France's former North African
> colony between 1960 and 1966, four involved incidents in which
> radioactive gas leaked out, French officials have said.
>
> French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pushed for a new start to ties
> with Algeria. In October France moved to resolve another obstacle to
> better relations when it handed over details of where its forces laid
> millions of landmines half a century ago.
>
> Algerian newspapers regularly report deaths and injuries of people who
> inadvertently step on independence-era landmines.
>
> Bajolet said Algeria had never asked officially for maps locating the
> mines and that France had decided unilaterally to hand them over.
>
> "The decision came very late. I don't personally understand why they
> were not handed over after independence," he said. "President Sarkozy
> has also taken a positive decision to care for those injured and
> crippled by the mines."
>