French President Emmanuel Macron began a three-day visit to Algeria on Thursday, where he vowed to open a new chapter the bilateral relations between two countries that share a painful past.
France held control over Algeria during 130 years of colonial rule. But the last eight years were marked by a devastating independence struggle that ended in 1962.
“We have a complex, painful common past. And it has at times prevented us from looking at the future,” Macron said. “We did not choose this…