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Tensions dog Sarkozy in Algeria Sarkozy says colonial rule unjust
(about 12 hours later)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to finalise a series of big business deals on a visit to Algeria. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said during a visit to former colony Algeria that his country's colonial rule was "profoundly unjust".
The contracts include billion-dollar investments in the Algerian oil and gas business by the French energy companies Total and Gaz de France. Mr Sarkozy was recently attacked by some in Algeria over his refusal to apologise for France's colonial past.
Mr Sarkozy said both France and Algeria should fight "all forms of racism".
France invaded Algeria in 1830. An eight-year war of independence in the 1950s and 1960s cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Mr Sarkozy expects to finalise a series of big business deals during the visit.
'Jewish lobby'
In a speech to Algerian business leaders, Mr Sarkozy condemned colonialism.
"Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three founding words of our Republic: freedom, equality, brotherhood," he said.
"But it's also fair to say that inside the system, there were many men and women who liked Algeria, before having to leave it."
He said numerous crimes had been committed on both sides during Algeria's independence war from 1954 to 1962.
It is Mr Sarkozy's third visit to Algiers in just over a year
"The moment has come to entrust Algerian and French historians with the task of writing this page of tormented history together," Mr Sarkozy said.
A minister in Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's government attacked Mr Sarkozy last week, saying he had been elected thanks to the "Jewish lobby", alluding to the Jewish origins of his maternal grandfather.
Mr Bouteflika later said those comments did not reflect the official position.
Mr Sarkozy said on Monday: "There is nothing that more closely resembles anti-Semitism than Islamophobia. Both have the same face: that of stupidity and hate."
He has concentrated on the increasing economic ties between the two countries, expressing the hope of signing contracts worth 5bn euros (£3.55bn).
The contracts include billion dollar investments in the Algerian oil and gas business by the French energy companies Total and Gaz de France.
France is already the biggest investor in Algeria outside the energy sector.France is already the biggest investor in Algeria outside the energy sector.
But it is a controversial visit, given Mr Sarkozy's refusal to apologise for the deaths of thousands of Algerians during French colonial rule.
Deep anger
Mr Sarkozy will be travelling with a large delegation of businessmen to Algiers, where they are expected to seal $4bn-worth of deals vital to both economies.
We must not ignore [the past] but come to terms with it President Nicolas Sarkozy Ties still strong
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says when it comes to business Algeria and France have a number of mutual interests.
But there is still deep anger left over from years of colonial rule that makes this an uneasy and complex relationship, our correspondent says.
Many in the Algerian leadership spent their youth in the revolutionary struggle; and some say a relationship of equals is not possible until France accepts its past, he says.
The war, which started in 1954, cost hundreds of thousands of Algerian and French lives before independence was finally granted in 1962.
Mr Sarkozy has defended his refusal to apologise, telling Algeria's leaders they should focus on the future and not "beat their breasts".
"We must not ignore [the past] but come to terms with it," Mr Sarkozy said in an interview this weekend, the AP news agency reports.
"That will require a bit more time for both of us, because there are wounds on both sides that have not yet healed."