MARSEILLE // Fifty years ago today, in the French alpine spa of town Evian-les-Bains, a treaty was signed to end 132 years of rule from Paris and set Algeria free.
The agreement formally ended a war of independence that cost, depending on sources, between 350,000 and 1.5 million lives.
But it did not put an immediate end to bloodshed, and certainly not to the bitterness and hatred the conflict aroused. Half a century on, the north African state still awaits the apology it believes it is owed by France.
On both sides of the Mediterranean, the anniversary is a momentous event. But although the Evian accord paved the way for independence - the French proclaimed a ceasefire the next day, March 19, 1962 - Algeria did not become a republic until after its own referendum, held on July 1, to accept the treaty.
