Algiers – France’s ambassador to former colony Algeria laid a wreath on Tuesday where a writer was assassinated by a French pro-colonial group days before the country won its independence 60 years ago.
Teacher and novelist Mouloud Feraoun, a friend of French philosopher Albert Camus, was murdered in the North African country’s capital on March 15, 1962 by a commando from the far-right Secret Armed Organisation (OAS).
The OAS was responsible for a campaign of assassinations and bombings aimed at keeping in place the French occupation of Algeria which ended after an agreement signed just days after Feraoun’s killing.
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On Tuesday, French envoy Francois Gouyette laid a wreath of flowers in front of a plaque honouring Feraoun in the Algiers hills where he was killed.
Gouyette said President Emmanuel Macron had asked him to lay the wreath “as a mark of respect for these six teachers murdered on March 15, 1962, a few days before the ceasefire and the Evian agreements” that ended a bloody eight-year war of independence.
He was accompanied by Algeria’s minister for former independence fighters, Laid Rebiga, who also laid a wreath.
Feraoun was killed the same day as five education inspectors involved with pro-literacy efforts and health education for Algerians, at centres seen by the OAS as hotbeds of pro-independence activism.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter / @ambafrancealger
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