Thread by @ArthurAsseraf

60 years ago today, the Evian Accords ended seven years of war between the Algerian FLN and the French government.

I was asked to comment on this for @France24_en

here’s a thread of what I didn’t have time to say or

~what peace negotiations can and cannot achieve 🧵

The Evian Accords were a massive turning point. They ended 132 years of French colonialism in Algeria by recognising that Algerians could vote for their own independence. They provided an immediate ceasefire that ended a war that had raged since 1954.

To give you a sense of how improbable this agreement was, they couldn’t even agree on WHERE negotiations should take place.

The French delegation insisted this was a domestic issue bc Algeria was part of France, so it had to be on French soil…

The Algerian delegation not only insisted that it was an international issue, but also feared being under French control (as several FLN members had been abducted and detained by French) -

This is how things ended up in Evian-les-Bains

The Algerian delegation slept in Switzerland, and every day would take a helicopter across the Lac Léman to the French town of Evian, so that the French could maintain that negotiations were happening in France

The Accords however, were never fully implemented.

The ceasefire held, and after a referendum Algeria became independent on July 3rd, a few months later. Everything else fell apart

The most bloody phase of the war occurred ~after the ceasefire.

Over the next few months, the militant settlers of the OAS launched a terror campaign to prevent independence from happening. They bombed, assassinated and burned.

Both the French and Algerian authorities lost control of the violence. The French army shot French citizens in Algeria, the FLN was unable to stem a wave of revenge killings and abductions of the European population

Unable to imagine living in an independent Algeria, most Europeans and Jews in Algeria left. It was a rapid exodus, 600,000 people in a few months. By the end of the year, most of Algeria’s 1 million Europeans had gone.

The Accords had not planned for this: they had extremely detailed provisions for the future of the European minority in Algeria - guarantees, representation, special courts etc. Most people expected that most French Algerians (~10% of the population) would stay

Guarantees for European property, a big deal considering they owned most of the most valuable land, ended up being moot as they departed. In 1963, the new Algerian government nationalised settler property

The French government did retain use of the naval base at Mers el Kébir and nuclear testing grounds in the Sahara, but even these had to be vacated earlier than planned in 1966/7

So why am I telling you this?

Because beyond the French/Algerian case, it matters to how we think about peace negotiations, and how this history is taught.

History is not just made by men in suits in a room. Their actions are important but they do not determine everything

In this case, the actions of many women and men, of the OAS, of myriads of people making decisions about their families, their fears, their livelihoods, created an Algeria which was very different from the one envisaged at Evian

Evian is not the object of much celebration in France or Algeria. For some in France, it’s a marker of defeat. For some in Algeria, a marker of uncomfortable compromise with the coloniser.

But it’s a moment that has a lot to teach us about historical turning points:

Who makes peace? How does it stick? When does war end? When do we know that we have peace and justice?

Thanks for reading! Resources below 👇🏼

For what happened in 1962, what it felt like for people living through its uncertainties and hopes, learn French and read @RahalMal’s latest. It is a privilege for all of us to be living at a time where we can be illuminated by her work

Natalya Vince’s “The Algerian War, the Algerian Revolution” is a wonderful summary in English of why the conflict matters

For how the unpredictable events of 1962 ended up transforming France, @ToddShepard75’s “Invention of Decolonization”