Évian Agreements

accords between the government of France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, which was formed during the National Democratic Revolution in Algeria.

Signed on Mar. 18, 1962, in the city of Évian-les-Bains, France, the Évian Agreements sealed the victory of the Algerian people in the national liberation war against French colonialism. The agreements provided for a cease-fire on the territory of Algeria, a referendum in Algeria on the question of self-determination, and, should independence be chosen, the full sovereignty of the future Algerian state in its domestic and foreign affairs.

The accords also stipulated that the property of Frenchmen living in Algeria could not be confiscated without just compensation. In exchange, France undertook to provide economic, financial, technical, and cultural aid to Algeria on the basis of bilateral agreements, which were signed later as an extension of the Évian Agreements. French companies retained the right to extract and export petroleum.

A special declaration on military matters contained France’s pledge to complete the withdrawal of its troops from Algeria in three years. (They were in fact withdrawn by July 1964.) By July 1,1967, France had closed its military bases in Algeria, except for the base at Mers el Kébir, which was closed in February 1968.

In the latter half of the 1970’s France and Algeria recognized that the Évian Agreements no longer reflected the actual state of their relations.