Faced with problems of governance and legitimacy, donors often chose to bypass government mechanisms to work directly with civil society, which further undermined normal political and administrative processes.

They were making it possible for us to do what they do, and yet, they didn't really understand how they did it.

Coming immediately after the upcoming French presidential election, the event offers an ideal opportunity for Sarkozy or his successor to engage in a symbolic act of repentance. Such a gesture would strengthen France both externally and in terms of the sentiments of its citizens of Algerian descent, whose difficulty in reconciling their dual identity has led some to turn to fundamentalist Islam.