France 24.
French President Francois Hollande on Thursday said he recognized that the “suffering” inflicted on the Algerian people during French colonial rule was “brutal and unfair” – but stopped short of issuing an apology.
Speaking to Algerian lawmakers on the second day of a landmark visit to the former French territory, Hollande said: “For 132 years, what Algeria was subjected to was profoundly brutal and unfair. That system had a name: colonialism. And I recognize here the suffering that colonialism inflicted on the Algerian people.”