that cause chronic pain. ♪ anchor: you're watching al jazeera. social media platforms are returning to normal after being knocked off-line for several hours. millions of users worldwide haven't hit by the outage. we have this washington dc. reporter: the return to service is random. some people are getting instagram back, and i think we have to look back.

there is no rhyme or reason as to when people are going to get access back. but it does appear at least at this point, nothing nefarious has happened. anchor: ethiopia's prime minister has been sworn in for a second term. are you an investigation says all sides in the be is conflict had committed violation. accounts of murder, torture. libya has been in conflict since the death of its former leader in 2011. sudan's government has warned it is about to run out of medicine, fuel and wheat because of the closure of its main port. protesters have blocked roads around the sedan port rallying around poor economic conditions.

investigators in california are trying to find out why 126,000 gallons of oil leaked from a greek four kilometers from shore. crews are working around the clock to contain the leak. william shatner is boldly going where no other sci-fi star has gone. the 90-year-old actor from star trek will be joining three others on board a blue origin capsule which lasted from texas next week. those are the headlines. stick around for inside story. ♪ anchor: was there and algeria

nation before french colonization? that is the question emmanuel macron asked. the statement has angered algeria. what does that tell us about france's colonial past. this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. france and algeria have had a complicated relationship decades, although french colonial rule ended in the 1960's, france has often been accused of interference. president emmanuel macron's recent critical comments are threatening to make things worse. the algerian government has responded to the latest remarks by recalling its ambassador to

france and banning the french military from its airspace. french military aircraft fly throughout. -- algeria. algeria says the comments aren't inadmissible interference in internal affairs, and an intolerable affront to algerians who died fighting french colonialism. macron's remarks says were made during the meeting of descendants of algerians. macron is quoted as saying, algeria is ruled by a political military system. describing the official history has to be rewritten, while adding you can see the algerian system is tired, we can. he is also quoted questioning

the existence of the algerian nation before french colonial rule. algeria says more than one million people were killed in its war for independence. it started in 1954 when france cracks down on rebels from the national liberation front who were fighting for independence. the french government has faced accusations of committing large-scale killings, torture and rhymes against humanity. mccrone acknowledged some of the atrocities, but the french government has never apologized but that actions during the war which ended in 1962. tension worsened after france sharply reduced the number of thesis it grants to algerians. tunisians are also affected. the french government blames the failure for its decision. the dispute is raising concerns

about france's relationship with its other former colonies in africa. let's bring in our guests. in paris. in doha. casablanca. walking to the program. -- welcome to the program. let me begin in delhi. -- doha. the colonizers have complicated relations. in france's case, it used to be a relationship of take. has been very difficult to retool. do you think that is an accurate representation? >> it is almost accurate.

over the last two years, there has been hope that relations between algeria and france might improve under the leadership of the current president. he opened up a few windows of hope when you talk about colonialism about a crime against humanity. [indiscernible] to start some sort of dialogue with the algerians. this showed that certain steps would be taken towards opening

up the source subject. events over the last couple of weeks and over the last few days have put everything in jeopardy. i think algerians were not expecting the french president to come up with this particular statement, and i guess the french president did not think algeria would give such a robust answer by closing airspace. anchor: in paris. is this a simple diplomatic spat or a miscalculation of comments that has led to a serious incident? >> mapping think it is somewhere between the two.

these statements happened during an informal meeting with french algerians of the younger generation. it was a free-flowing conversation. throughout the conversation, it was clear macron expressed frustration, having tried to reconcile the narratives of french history and according to him, generally making gestures towards leadership. his main conclusion is the system cannot be reformed and the generals have instrumentalized their history

for their own political benefit. even though he does have a good relationship with his algerian counterpart. this was not calculated. but this happened just after the countries were subjected to new procedures regarding visas, the probably added up to his comments of a few days ago. anchor: i want to confirm. you are saying these were off-the-cuff comments in a private meeting? >> no. these were off-the-cuff remarks but in a semi-private meeting. this was not a speech. but these were not off the record comments. anchor: they were simply having a conversation. or, those remarks, are they

french argus? >> i think we need to distinguish between two groups of people. the french president talking to some youth of algerian dissents. whatever he says, let's not forget he is the president of france and they do not necessarily believe that the frustration about the algerians is due to some hesitation about making up the regime. i think it is much more serious than that. to my view, it deals also with french operations in mali.

the algerian government has changed its constitution whereby it can deploy its military overseas. this article of the constitution was not popular among algerians. a lot of people saw as an attack by france to get the military involved in mali. last june, macron said the operation would end soon and under international coordination. the expected the algerians to be involved in that and they were not. the second thing is that it has to do with visas to a certain extent. but let's not forget last month, on the 20th of september, he apologized to algerians who

fought with france and decorated some of them. this action was not well received and algeria. i guess the algerians did not want to send the military to mali, and that resulted in these particular comments which were reported by one of the most influential newspapers in france. anchor: i want to come to bruno just to get a reaction. what do you think? >> i don't entirely disagree. what i think he is trying to do is what he calls the reconciliation of narratives and memories. you have the harkey's in france.

the younger people and the relation with the algerian government. it's a difficult triangulation. i think he is honest in what he says to each of them, but it may be impossible. maybe it will take another generation. so far, these questions have been largely disconnected based on what we do and don't do with algeria. of course, politics is politics. what i do know is there has been an increasing frustration in paris for what is perceived as a lenient attitude by algerians surrounding some movements. the retaliation for the comments

about forbidding french aircraft is a symbolic packed -- act. it's a symbolic act. anchor: thank you for being patient and casablanca. but of the questions i want to ask you is a lot of this is historical, the way the former colonizers have treated the colonized. there are a lot of accusations that although rule has stopped, interference has not and that has led to frustration and anger . is that right? >> think we are in a situation

where we must acknowledge -- meddling into african affairs and possibilities of the former colonies. in this situation, mr. macron has tried to [indiscernible] what we have here is the algerian government is strong in receiving -- refusing to acknowledge.

[indiscernible] the government and algeria is controlled by the military and are not allowing people who move to an -- [indiscernible] french airplanes. it's going to be [indiscernible] natural resources they are not using. anchor: let me be absolutely clear.

are you saying that the french president should not interfere in algeria's affairs, because algeria is a sovereign state customer -- sovereign state? >> is entitled to say. [indiscernible] this is politics. anchor: let's begin in politics. that's paris. a lot of this has to do with politics within france. macron is facing a tough challenge in these elections coming up. there is an increasingly -- increasing feeling in france

that what is happening is macron is being dragged to the right wing when it comes to immigration and things like this. and is having to play on the right wing playing field rather than a more level playing field. >> this is not entirely forced and clearly macron who appeared as a centerleft and center-right candidate has indeed been dragged slightly to the right. i would caution those trying to second-guess, we always suspect politicians to do things for domestic and political reasons. i don't think it gains him any points in terms of domestic

benefits. again, knowing a little bit how he operates, don't underestimate that for him there is a genuine frustration at not being able to go beyond historical grievances. does he make calculations in addition to that? anchor: i would like to get your comments. macron is allowed to make those comments about algeria because algeria has failed. >> i believe in freedom of speech. he can make whatever comments he wants to make. also, to my mind his comments

create a division within the algerian society in which she said for the first time -- this is the worst kept secret in algeria. we know that the military and algeria has always intervened in politics. this is not necessarily something new, but without the support of successive french governments, the outcome might have been different. the second thing, he tried to say this is the difference between the algerian people as a whole and this narrative of france is fueled by the algerian

regime and the people are not involved in this. this is where i think he is totally wrong. there is anything that almost all algerians agree on, is that french have committed atrocities in algeria and supported successive regimes over the years and most importantly has provided support for these particular regimes and have also protect some of the non-culture in france. if you look at the algerian leadership in france, most of the -- mr. macron in the

situation is not in a position to say what he said. anchor: and casablanca. there seems to be a disconnect between elites of algeria, morocco and tunisia, some hold french passports and are sympathetic. to the actual feeling on the streets of people who are almost fed up of this colonial rule that seems to be continuing with their own leadership. what do you think? is that true? >> if you look around africa from north to west africa, areas where they speak language including my own country senegal, you have a growing discontent with french companies, business people.

let's look at the reality. 60 years in those nations. the problem -- there is also an internet problem. you cannot be blaming everyone to be the cause of your problems. i believe he is playing politics. he knows he needs the voice of the right wing. the voices of those people who are sidelined to a certain extent.

he is playing politics. africa is also playing politics. [indiscernible] anchor: we are running out of time. you are nodding in agreement to some of our guests. surely, if there is this anti-french feeling that is emerging and african nations, french foreign policy is in the wrong place. >> i was nodding because i was approving one of the points made by your guests and simply the point that more than 60 years after independence, it is a bit strange to blame the former colonizer for all of the troubles. this is particular true and algeria.

then difference when in doubt is a very easy way to set aside responsibility. i am afraid the leads have to blame themselves for the situation in their country. it is an easy scapegoat. that being said, i can't accept the idea that he is doing it only for domestic policy. 20 tells french people of algerian dissent you are as french as i am, that is not exactly pandering to the extreme right. anchor: very quickly. is it just an easy scapegoat? easy to blame the french? >> not necessarily. there is an element of truth in

what the gentleman said, but i would not necessarily agree with him 100%. let's go back 30 years ago when the democratic transition started in algeria and the islamic party won the particular election. if it was not for the intervention of the french as far as the european union was concerned, whenever the algerian question was on the table, it has always been the french who defended the algerian authorities at that particular time. if it was not for the support of the french, i would agree the algerian transition to democracy would have been completely different. france --

anchor: we are out of time. i want to thank all of our guests. and i want to thank you as well for watching. you can see the program again anytime on al jazeera.com, for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the entire team here in delhi, bye for now. ♪ q/

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