<p> Algeria is waiting for an apology for France's colonial occupation of the North African country, the president said, expressing hope that Emmanuel Macron would build on recent conciliatory overtures.</p>.<p>A global reexamination of the legacy of colonialism has been unleashed by the May killing of unarmed African American George Floyd by a white police officer, which sparked mass protests around the world.</p>.<p>"We have already had half-apologies. The next step is needed... we await it," President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Saturday in an interview with news channel France 24.</p>.<p>"I believe that with President Macron, we can go further in the appeasement process... he is a very honest man, who wants to improve the situation."</p>.<p>France's 132 years of colonial rule in Algeria, and the brutal eight-year war that ended it, have left a legacy of often prickly relations between the two countries.</p>.<p>In what has been seen as a thaw in ties, Algeria on Friday received the skulls of 24 resistance fighters decapitated during the colonial period.</p>.<p>The skulls will be laid to rest in the martyrs' section of the capital's El Alia cemetery on Sunday -- the 58th anniversary of Algeria's independence -- according to media reports.</p>.<p>Tebboune said an apology from France would "make it possible to cool tensions and create a calmer atmosphere for economic and cultural relations", especially for the more than six million Algerians who live in France.</p>.<p>In December 2019, Macron said that "colonialism was a grave mistake" and called for turning the page on the past.</p>.<p>During his presidential election campaign, he had created a storm by calling France's colonisation of Algeria a "crime against humanity".</p>.<p>UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has urged countries to make amends for "centuries of violence and discrimination".</p>
<p> Algeria is waiting for an apology for France's colonial occupation of the North African country, the president said, expressing hope that Emmanuel Macron would build on recent conciliatory overtures.</p>.<p>A global reexamination of the legacy of colonialism has been unleashed by the May killing of unarmed African American George Floyd by a white police officer, which sparked mass protests around the world.</p>.<p>"We have already had half-apologies. The next step is needed... we await it," President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Saturday in an interview with news channel France 24.</p>.<p>"I believe that with President Macron, we can go further in the appeasement process... he is a very honest man, who wants to improve the situation."</p>.<p>France's 132 years of colonial rule in Algeria, and the brutal eight-year war that ended it, have left a legacy of often prickly relations between the two countries.</p>.<p>In what has been seen as a thaw in ties, Algeria on Friday received the skulls of 24 resistance fighters decapitated during the colonial period.</p>.<p>The skulls will be laid to rest in the martyrs' section of the capital's El Alia cemetery on Sunday -- the 58th anniversary of Algeria's independence -- according to media reports.</p>.<p>Tebboune said an apology from France would "make it possible to cool tensions and create a calmer atmosphere for economic and cultural relations", especially for the more than six million Algerians who live in France.</p>.<p>In December 2019, Macron said that "colonialism was a grave mistake" and called for turning the page on the past.</p>.<p>During his presidential election campaign, he had created a storm by calling France's colonisation of Algeria a "crime against humanity".</p>.<p>UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has urged countries to make amends for "centuries of violence and discrimination".</p>