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INTERVIEW. Xavier Driencourt, diplomat, ex-ambassador of France in Algiers, reacts to the controversy over the Algerian national anthem.
Interview by Kévin Badeau
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“oh France ! Here comes the day when you must be accountable! A presidential decree published in May in the Algerian Official Journal changes the circumstances in which the country’s anthem, Kassaman (“We swear”), written in 1955 and adopted in 1963, must be played in an abbreviated version or in its complete version. of five verses.
This decision, which at first went unnoticed in France, now arouses many comments. And for good reason: the full version includes an anti-French passage. Xavier Driencourt, former French ambassador to Algiers – between 2008 and 2012 then from 2017 to 2020 – analyzes this Algerian decision which comes in a context of tension between the two countries.
Point : What’s really going on with the Algerian anthem?