French-Algerian ties hit a low late final 12 months after Macron reportedly questioned whether or not Algeria had existed as a nation earlier than the French invasion and accused its “political-military system” of rewriting historical past and fomenting “hatred in the direction of France”.

Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response, however the two sides seem to have mended ties since.

“This journey will contribute to deepening the bilateral relationship seeking to the long run… to bolster Franco-Algerian cooperation within the face of regional challenges and to proceed the work of addressing the previous,” the presidency stated in a press release after a name between Macron and his reverse quantity Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Macron is to go to Algeria from Thursday to Saturday subsequent week.

The North African nation gained its independence from France following a gruelling eight-year struggle, which ended with the signing in March 1962 of the Evian Accords.

On July 5 of the identical 12 months, days after 99.72 % voted for independence in a referendum, Algeria lastly broke free from colonial rule — however recollections of the 132-year occupation proceed to hang-out its ties with France.

– Second journey –

Algeria’s struggle of independence left lots of of 1000’s useless.

French historians say half one million civilians and combatants died — 400,000 of them Algerian — whereas the Algerian authorities insist 1.5 million had been killed.

However six many years on, regardless of a string of gestures by Macron, France has dominated out any type of apology for the colonial interval.

The French presidency introduced Macron’s go to as Algeria reels from devastating wildfires.

Fires in northeastern Algeria — now largely extinguished — have killed 38 individuals, and ravaged greater than 10 % of a UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve.

However firefighters had been nonetheless battling blazes within the far west on Saturday, the Algerian civil defence stated.

Macron provided France’s land and air firefighting companies to assist, the presidency stated.

This week’s journey would be the French president’s second to Algeria as head of state, after a quick one in December 2017 initially of his first time period when Abdelaziz Bouteflika was nonetheless president.

This go to is about to be longer, and take him to each the capital Algiers and second metropolis Oran.

Tebboune, Bouteflika’s former premier, gained presidential elections in 2019, after mass protests pressured his ageing predecessor to resign.

Earlier this 12 months, he congratulated Macron on his re-election and invited him to come back to Algeria.