68th Anniversary of the Glorious Algerian War of Liberation observed
The Algerian government is determined to further strengthen the bonds of friendship with Botswana and expand them to encompass as many areas of mutually beneficial cooperation as possible in the “nearest future”.
Speaking Tuesday in Gaborone during the celebration of the 68th Anniversary of the Glorious Algerian war of liberation, Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in Botswana Mourad Adjabi said this determination is epitomised by the decision to open an Algerian embassy in Gaborone, for the first time since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Botswana.
It is within the framework of its unwavering foreign policy principles and objectives, and its increasingly important economic assets that Algeria is charting a new path of cooperation with its foreign partners, which include the sister country of Botswana, the envoy said.
Botswana’s Foreign Minister Dr. Lemogang Kwape returned the favour by complimenting Algeria’s decision to elevate their diplomatic mission to an embassy. He also commended Algeria’s unwavering commitment to support the struggles of the peoples of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Palestine for self- determination and freedom from the shackles of Morocco’s and Israel’s occupation. Minister Kwape said Botswana eagerly awaits the convening of the inaugural Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation ( JPCC) between Botswana and Algeria where they will discuss further areas of cooperation. More than anything, the Algerian Ambassador, who was flanked by his wife and joined by fellow members of the Diplomatic Corps, government officers including reputable business persons and the country’s Olympics Silver Medalist, Nijel Amos – used the occasion to lecture his audience about the Glorious Algerian war of liberation against imperial France, which began on the 1st of November 1954 and lasted for almost eight years. Independence was only attained on the 5th of July 1962, thereby ending the132 years of French colonial rule. Ambassador Adjabi recalled the peculiar nature of Algeria’s colonisation by France.
“Unlike all its other overseas possessions acquired during the 19th century, Algeria was considered and legally classified as an integral part of France,” he said.
Adjabi traced France’s brutal occupation to a “particularly bloody invasion in 1830”, which he said was characterised by a continuous “scorched earth” policy, including genocide and other atrocities. According to some accounts of historians,
between 500, 000 and 1, 000,000 from approximately 3 million Algerians, were killed in the first three decades of the conquest. Hundreds of thousands of French and other Europeans - Spanish, Italians, Portuguese, Maltese and others - later settled in Algeria.
Spearheaded by the Emir Abdelkader from 1832 to 1847, the Algerian resistance against the French occupation continued unabated for more than 40 years through military battles and uprisings across the country. In the first half of the 20th century, these were then followed by relentless political struggle but which led nowhere in terms of reclaiming the legitimate rights of the Algerian indigenous population. And as a result of the massacres of 8 May 1945, it became clear for the majority of nationalist parties and movements that armed revolt was the only course of action left to put an end to a century- long occupation, humiliation and untold misery. And so, purposely choosing the day of the Allied victory over the Nazis, thousands of Algerians demonstrated in several cities of the country to assert their right to self- determination, referring explicitly to the principles of the Atlantic and United Nations charters. These peaceful demonstrations were met with swift repression, and weeks- long punitive expeditions, with hundreds of summary executions carried out not only by the French army and police, but also by European civilians organised into militias. Some 45,000 Algerians were killed as a result.
Adjabi noted that for a majority of historians, 8 May 1945 was thus considered the beginning of a war that would erupt full- scale nearly a decade later, on the 1st of November 1954 precisely.
Following an almost eight- year long war of liberation that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Algerians, the French government finally accepted to open a series of negotiations with the National Liberation Front which eventually led to the conclusion of the “Evian Accords” in March 1962 and the organisation of a referendum on the 1st of July of the same year.
The vote was nearly unanimous, with 99.72 percent of the electorate voting for independence.
Having thus acted the restoration of its state, Algeria subsequently joined the United Nations family, as its 109th member, on 8 October 1962.
Since then, as a non- aligned country, Adjabi said that Algeria has been playing a prominent role in its neighborhood, and on the regional and global stage, supporting “all just causes, from the completion of the decolonisation process in Africa and elsewhere to the establishment of a more representative and equitable international system, and the promotion of multilateralism, cooperation and solidarity”.
With a population of over 45 million and an area of 2.3 million square kilometers, making it the world’s tenth and Africa’s largest country ( it is more than 200 times as large as the smallest country in the continent that is The Gambia), Algeria boasts of a thriving economy and a robust infrastructure. With a projected nominal Gross Domestic Product worth 181 billion in 2022, Algeria’s economy is the fourth largest in Africa. Algeria is classified as an upper middle- income country by the World Bank. According to the August 2022 edition of the World Bank’s Algeria Economic Update titled ‘ Strengthening resilience in favorable times’, Algeria’s GDP is estimated to have recovered to its pre- pandemic level in the fourth quarter of 2021, after contracting by 5.1 percent in 2020.
A more recent report published by the IMF in October, titled ‘ World Economic Outlook: Countering the cost- of- living Crisis”, states that Algeria is set to achieve a growth rate of 4.7 percent by the end of the current year, placing it among the fastest- growing economies in the world.
In the past two decades, the hydrocarbon boom has allowed Algeria to make remarkable advances. Algeria nearly cleared its multilateral debt in 2008, invested in infrastructure projects supporting economic growth, and introduced redistributive policies that alleviated poverty and resulted in significant improvements in Human Development indicators. After having, for too long, heavily relied on the oil and gas sector, Algeria launched, in more recent years, several multi- billion dollarsworth mega structuring projects mainly in the fields of energy, mining, transportation and utilities networks. These projects are primarily aimed at diversifying the economy in an effort to meet the infrastructure needs of a growing population and facilitate increasing exports of industrial and agricultural products.
They are also aimed at contributing to further integrate the economies of the African countries through trade, thanks to the entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Since 2020, the Algerian government has also taken steps to boost foreign and domestic investment, notably by issuing a new Hydrocarbon law, partly lifting restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic firms, and adopting a new investment law, while making the transition to private sector- led growth and job creation model a developmental priority.