On Sunday, Fayez Al-Sarraj, the Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), held a telephone call with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to extend his best wishes on the occasion of the country’s 58th independence day.
In a statement, the GNA’s media office said that Al-Sarraj congratulated Algeria’s President and its people on recovering the remains of twenty four fighters who had been killed for resisting French colonial forces in the 19th century.
They are now reburied in the martyrs’ square of El- Alia cemetery, the largest in Algeria.
The twenty four resistance fighters took part in an 1849 revolt, after French colonial forces occupied Algeria in 1830.
Algeria formally declared independence on July 5, 1962 after a brutal war with France.
President Tebboune welcomed the return of the remains and expressed his hope that French President Emmanuel Macron could improve relations and address historical disputes.
The Algerian President has recently warned that the current conflict in Libya could escalate and turn the war-torn country into a “new Somalia”.
Speaking during an interview with ‘France 24’, Tebboune pointed out that Libya is already in a situation similar to that of Syria due to foreign interference.
He warned that the risk was now that the Libyan tribes will take up arms in their turn, raising fears of a “Somalization” of the country.
“The country could become a terrorist sanctuary,” he stressed.