Algeria's parliament is set to vote on Wednesday on a law declaring France's colonisation of the country a 'state crime' and demanding an apology and reparations.
The vote comes as the two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis, and analysts say that while Algeria's move is largely symbolic, it could still be politically significant.
The bill states that France holds "legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused".
The proposed law "is a sovereign act", parliament speaker Brahim Boughali was quoted by the APS state news agency as saying.
It represents "a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria's national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable", he added.
France faces pressure at home to admit 1945 colonial massacre of Algerians
France's colonisation of Algeria from 1830 until 1962 remains a point of tension in relations between the two countries.
French rule over Algeria was marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, up until the bloody war of independence from 1954-1962.
Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people, while French historians put the death toll lower – at 500,000 people in total, 400,000 of them Algerian.
Macron calls colonisation a 'crime against humanity' in Algeria interview
'Crime against humanity'
French President Emmanuel Macron has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a "crime against humanity", but has stopped short of offering an apology.
Asked last week about the vote, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said he would not comment on "political debates taking place in foreign countries".
Hosni Kitouni, a researcher in colonial history at the University of Exeter in the UK, said that "legally, this law has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France".
However, he added: "Its political and symbolic significance is important: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory."
(with AFP)
