Tunisia’s parliament rejects motion for French apology over colonial crimes
AFTER a heated 14-hour debate, Tunisia’s parliament yesterday rejected a motion calling on France to apologise for crimes permitted during the colonial era and pay reparations.
Opponents argued that such a move would spell economic disaster, given that France is Tunisia’s top trade partner and number one foreign investor. It’s also home to one million Tunisians.
But proponents of the motion said an apology was necessary to “turn the page on this dark period” in the history of the two countries and put their relations on a more equal footing.
The debate came amid renewed anger in some European countries about colonialism crimes, stemming from protests in the US over racial injustice and police violence after George Floyd’s death.
France occupied Tunisia as a protectorate from 1881 until 1956. French soldiers only left Tunisian territory in 1963.
The motion to demand an “official and public apology from the French state for crimes, assassinations, torture, rape, forced deportation and looting of natural resources” was presented by the Islamist nationalist party Coalition Al Karama, which has 19 lawmakers in the 217-seat assembly.
The motion was rejected, with 77 legislators voting in favor, 46 abstentions and five votes against. To be adopted, it needed an absolute majority of 109 votes.
The bill also demanded “compensation to the Tunisian state and to all those who suffered the pain of colonization”.
“We are not animated by any bitterness or hatred, but such apologies will heal the wounds of the past,” argued Al Karama president Seifeddine Makhlouf.
He used the example of Germany, which apologised to France after the Nazi occupation, noting the two countries “are now allies and the leading partners in Europe”.
However, he provoked an outcry when he attacked the first president of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, calling him “the servant of France”.
Lawmaker Mustapha Ben Ahmed, of the Tahya Tounes party said: “We are for the most part the children of Bourguiba, who led the liberation struggle of the country after long years of imprisonment and deportations and built modern Tunisia by generalising education and by emancipating women.” | AP