French President Emmanuel Macron has officially acknowledged that Larbi Ben M’hidi, a prominent leader in Algeria’s War of Independence, was killed by French soldiers following his arrest in 1957. This announcement, made by the French presidency on the 70th anniversary of Algeria’s revolt against colonial rule, is seen as another step in Macron’s efforts to foster reconciliation with the former French colony.
Ben M’hidi, a founding member of the National Liberation Front (FLN), was one of the key figures in the movement that led to Algeria’s independence. According to the French presidency, while the official story claimed he died by suicide during a hospital transfer after his arrest, he was in fact executed by soldiers under General Paul Aussaresses, who admitted to the killing in the early 2000s.
Macron, who has previously described France’s occupation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity,” has made multiple gestures toward reconciling with Algeria, though he has refrained from issuing a formal apology for France’s colonial past. A report he commissioned in 2020 by historian Benjamin Stora recommended steps to improve Franco-Algerian relations but ruled out any official apology. Although Macron aims to build a strong partnership with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, his comments in 2022 questioning Algeria’s pre-colonial nationhood drew criticism from Algiers, underscoring the complexity of the historical relationship.
