ALGIERS – Director General of Asia-Oceania at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Boumediene Guenad, representing the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sabri Boukadoum, said on Saturday that the inauguration of the stele dedicated to the late Indonesian President Ahmed Soekarno at the commune of Ben Aknoun (Algiers), was “a new page in the radiant and privileged historical relations binding the two brotherly peoples”.
In a speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the stele at the Mustapha Khalef city in Ben Aknoun, in the presence of the Indonesian Ambassador to Algiers, Ms. Safira Machrusah, Mr. Guenad said that this major event will add “a new page” for “radiant and privileged” historical relations between the two fraternal peoples.
It “will undoubtedly strengthen the traditional Algerian-Indonesian relations and give a cultural and human dimension to them. Besides, this inauguration expressed the degree of respect of Algerians to the person and the noble positions of the late President Ahmed Soekarno”, added the same manager.
The representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled, in this context, the decision of the late Soekarno to invite the National Liberation Front (FLN), six months after the outbreak of the Glorious Liberation War, to take part in the Bandung Conference in April 1955, which brought under one roof the representatives of the peoples of Asia and Africa, as “an opportunity to recognize the right of the Algerian people to self-determination and independence”.
Describing this occasion as “victory for the Algerian cause in major international forums”, Mr. Guenad referred to the note presented by a group of African and Asian countries to the UN Secretary-General, in which they require the registration of the Algerian question in the agenda of the work of the 10th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in October 1955 with a view to “supporting the legitimacy of the struggle of the Algerian people at the international level to regain their independence and recognize its just cause “.
He recalled that “the warm welcome reserved for the Algerian delegation at the popular level, and the personal reception by the late president Ahmed Soekarno, was a categorical proof of the friendship between the two countries until now”, affirming that ” this gesture will remain forever engraved in the Algerian collective memory “.
Regarding bilateral relations, Mr. Guenad affirmed that after the independence of Algeria, this solidarity became “a solid base” for political dialogue, diversified cooperation and coordination at different levels, whether at the bilateral level, or at the level of international forums, in order to ensure “the realization of the common and mutual interests of the two Algerian and Indonesian peoples”.
The ceremony of the inauguration of the stele, in which took part the President of the High Islamic Council (HCI), Bouabdellah Ghlamallah, the advisor to the President of the Republic in charge of national memory, Abdelmadjid Chikhi and the Governor of Algiers , Youcef Chorfa, as well as several local officials, was marked by an intervention by the Indonesian Ambassador to Algeria, Ms. Safira Machrusah who reiterated her country’s willingness and determination to further consolidate relations with Algeria, based on their common history and visions for “the achievement of peace throughout the world”.
The Ambassador of Indonesia recalled that this stele was designed by architect Mohamed Radouane Kamel and sculpted by artist Dolorosa Sinaga, specialized in modern sculpture in Indonesia.
For her part, the president of the Indonesian Parliament, granddaughter of the late president Ahmed Soekarno, presented a speech by teleconference from the capital Jakarta, saying that this stele constituted “a reminder to the Algerians and the Indonesians of the historical relations since the conference of Bandung “and a motivation for the consolidation of political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries.
APS
