Macron Is Paying the Price for France’s Bloody History in Africa
- France losing influence in parts of Africa it once dominated
- Failure to tackle colonial abuses fuels racial tension at home
This article is for subscribers only.
The severed heads of the resistance fighters were displayed in a market square first. Then they were shipped back to private collections in Paris. For decades, they were boxed up in a museum basement and finally, this July, Emmanuel Macron sent them home.
As the Algerian military transport taxied to halt, the country’s leader, the chief of the army and a Muslim cleric lowered their eyes and 24 coffins draped with green, white and red of their national flag were carried across the tarmac.