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Algerian President congratulates newly-elected French President

Xinhua, May 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday congratulated the newly-elected French President Emanuel Macron, saying his election win is deserved.

"Your well-deserved election as President of the French Republic rightly rewards the strength of your will, the lucidity of your vision and the correctness of your commitments," the Algerian president wrote in a message to Macron, official APS news agency reported.

"The French people have chosen a friend of Algeria," he noted.

While calling on the new president to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor for the "building of the exceptional partnership between Algeria and France," Bouteflika emphasized "political courage and human sincerity" that Macron showed during his visit to Algiers earlier this year, "regarding the undeniably reprehensible nature of French colonialism in Algeria."

On a trip to Algiers on Feb 13, a part of his election campaign, Macron told an Algerian private TV station that French colonization in Algeria was "a crime against humanity." This controversial statement sparked sharp reactions on both sides of the Mediterranean.

The common history between Algeria and France remains, according to observers, a very sensitive issue that still weighs heavily on bilateral relations while hindering their full normalization of ties.

Emmanuel Macron, 39, was elected President of France on Sunday at the end of the second round of the presidential polls with 65.1 percent of suffrage. Endit