ALGERIAN-FRENCH RELATIONS AFTER THE 2011: QUO VADIS? Ecaterina MAȚOI Junior Lecturer, National Defense University “CAROL I” matoi.ecaterina@myunap.net Ranim Madina AL-HAJ MOHAMED Student, “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University of Bucharest ranimmadi.dz@gmail.com Abstract: According to the BBC, in September 2018, France`s President, Emanuel Macron, finally, has accepted responsibility for the torture and murder of an Algerian communist activist, with more than 60 years ago. This event followed a visit paid by Macron to Algeria in February 2017, while he was still a presidential candidate, during which he described colonialism as "a crime against humanity”. These events, which had taken place over a long period of sinuous and tense diplomatic relationship between the two nations, have as their reason more than a century of French colonialism on the African territory, including Algeria, which ended up with a war that left deep scars, many still unhealed, on both sides. However, the French president seems to hope that by recognizing and admitting such facts, Algeria, due to its linguistics and geographic characteristics, may play again, an important role for French foreign policy in traditional areas of influence. Through this paper, we will try to answer to what extent is this possible, taking into account the Algerian history, and the burden of colonialism legacy left to the Algerian by the French colonialism. Keywords: France; Algeria; colonialism; Algerian Revolution; les pieds-noirs; Berbers. 1. Algeria at a glance. The Berbers. Situated on the African continent, Algeria has a long and rich history; it was first known as the Kingdom of Numidia 1 ; on its territory there were found canyons and caves that contain numerous examples of prehistoric art - rock paintings dating back approximately 11,000 to 5000 years ago, when the region was completely vegetative 2 . Today, Algeria is bordered to the east by Tunisia and Libya; to the south by Niger, Mali and Mauritania; to the west by Morocco and Western Sahara and to the north, by the Mediterranean Sea. It is a vast country - the largest in Africa and the 10th in the world - with a total surface of 2,381,741, from which more than 80% desert 3 . Algeria has a population of 41,657,488 of the Arab- Berber ethnicity, two official languages, Arabic and Berber or Tamazight, and French as a lingua franca. According to the World Factbook, although almost all Algerians are Berber in origin and not Arab, only a small percentage identifies itself as Berber, respectively, 15%, and even though, they are Sunni Muslims (99%), the Berbers do not identify their cultural heritage with that of the Arabs. 4 From the economic point of view, Algeria is ranked by the World Bank, in the first three most important economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and a leader in 1 “Algeria.” OPEC: Saudi Arabia, www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/146.htm., accessed on 30.01.2019. 2 “The World Factbook: Algeria.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Feb. 2018, www.cia.gov/library, accessed on 29.01.2019. 3 Algeria a Country Study. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz, Federal Research Division Library of Congress, Library of Congress, 1994, www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/Algeria%20Study_1.pdf?ver=2012-10-11- 163223-563, accessed on 29.01.2019. 4 “The World Factbook: Algeria.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Feb. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ag.html, accessed on line on 29.01.2019. 232