A historian's report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron to assess how France deals with its colonial past in Algeria is "not objective" and falls "below expectations", Algeria's government spokesman said Wednesday.
French historian Benjamin Stora, tasked with assessing the progress made by France on confronting its past in the North African nation, submitted the report to Macron last month.
Atrocities committed by both sides during the 1954-1962 Algerian war of independence continue to strain relations between the two countries six decades later.
Stora described a "never-ending memory war" between the former colonial power and ex-colony, locked in "competing (claims of) victimisation".
On Wednesday, Algerian Communications Minister Ammar Belhimer said the report "denies all historical facts", in an interview with the Arabic-language news website Algeria Now.
It is the strongest criticism yet levelled against the Stora report by a member of the Algerian government.
Belhimer accused the French historian of having placed the victim "on an equal footing with the executioner".
The report "hides the legitimate claims of Algeria, in particular the official recognition by France of war crimes and crimes against humanity, perpetrated during the 130 years of the occupation of Algeria", Belhimer said.
Neither Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, nor the director of the national archives Abdelmadjid Chikhi, have yet spoken on the subject.
The Algerian association of veterans from the war of independence have also rejected the report, saying it "failed to address... the various colonial crimes perpetrated by the French state".
Stora made a number of proposals, including the creation of a mixed French-Algerian "memory and truth commission" that would hear testimony from people who suffered during the war and drive reconciliation efforts.
Macron, the first president born after the colonial period, has gone further than any of his predecessors in recognising crimes committed by French forces.
But he has drawn the line at an official apology, vehemently opposed by many on the French right who view acts of national repentance as betrayal.