The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said Monday that France's colonial system was "profoundly unjust," in a step toward ending decades of rancor between France and Algeria, once the crown jewel among French colonies. "Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three founding words of our republic: liberty, equality, fraternity," he said at the start of a three-day state visit to Algeria.
The visit comes with tensions running high. France has refused for years to apologize for brutality during the colonial era. And an Algerian government minister said that Sarkozy won the presidential elections last spring because he was backed by a "Jewish lobby." Sarkozy responded Monday with an appeal for both France and Algeria to fight "all forms of racism."
"There is nothing that more closely resembles anti-Semitism than Islamophobia," he said. "Both have the same face: that of stupidness and hate."
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