In Oran, Emmanuel Macron’s getaway after a visit under control

by time news
Emmanuel Macron and the former raï music producer Boualem Benhaouia in front of his Disco Maghreb shop, the mythical place of the Oran music scene, this August 27. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

REPORTAGE – Sixty years after the independence of Algeria, the President of the Republic signed on Saturday a “declaration for a renewed partnership” with his counterpart Admelmajid Tebboune.

Special envoy to Oran

The chapel of Santa Cruz, perched on a rocky outcrop dominated by an old Ottoman citadel, offers a breathtaking view of the bay of Oran. Saturday, on the third and last day of his “work and friendship” visit to Algeria, Emmanuel Macron made a detour to this emblematic place of the colonial period. In 1849, the commander of the French forces had suggested to the vicar general of Algiers to erect a statue of the Virgin there to put an end to an epidemic of cholera which had already caused a thousand deaths. Since independence, the inhabitants of Oran have appropriated the place and gladly come here to take the air with their families. As for the “black feet”, they had invested Santa Cruz with such an attachment that they recreated, as soon as they arrived in France, a sanctuary in its image in the city of Nîmes, where gatherings of repatriated people are still organized each year. for the Ascension.

«The miracle is that thousands of Oranais nowadays come to visit…

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