Algeria calls on France to admit colonial crimes

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2520178.htm

SETIF, Algeria, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has again urged France to admit it tortured and killed Algerians during colonial rule.

Algeria and France are gradually normalising ties and hope to sign a friendship treaty by the end of the year similar to the 1963 Franco-German reconciliation treaty.

The North African state has stepped up demands for France to recognise the mistakes and wrongs of colonial rule, which ended in 1962 after a bloody war of independence.

"This is to remind our friends in France that there is no alternative but to recognise they made mistakes, they tortured and killed our people," Bouteflika told thousands of supporters on Thursday in the city of Setif, which suffered French repression in 1945.