Emmanuel Macron: sometimes we can fight, but we fight friendly

Shafaq News/ On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that a friendly match between France and Algeria " would be good to ward off the past. "

During his visit to Algeria, Macron raised the possibility of a new meeting between the two teams, more than 20 years after the friendly match of October 6, 2001, which ended in the invasion of Algerian fans at the Stade de France.

"We will talk about this with the president (Abdelmadjid Tebboune) and its teams, it's not for me to say, and then it will also depend on the chance of the competitions to come," he said.

"Culture [...] and sport are fields where we must be together. So sometimes we can fight, but we fight friendly."

Macron's visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of the end of the eight-year Algerian War and the proclamation of Algeria's independence in 1962. 

Emmanuel Macron has said he wants to open "a new page" in bilateral ties with Algeria on the first day of his visit to the country, which is designed to relaunch relations following longstanding tensions with France's former colony.

"We have a common past, it is complex, painful, and it has sometimes prevented us from looking at the future," Macron said, calling for "great humility" in looking ahead.

The French president announced the creation of a "joint commission of historians, opening our archives and allowing us to look at the whole of this historical period, which is decisive for us, from the beginning of colonization to the war of liberation."

This must be done "without taboos, with a willingness to work freely, historically, with full access to our archives," he stressed.

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune welcomed "encouraging results" from discussions that allow "promising prospects to be drawn up in the special partnership which binds us."