A sudden aerial attack by the French army on the village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, located on the Tunisian-Algerian border on February 8th, 1958 under the context of their war against the Algerian resistance. This attack was seen as a punishment for Tunisian support of the Algerian revolution. The French bombardment resulted in the death of 76 civilians, including Algerians and Tunisians, among them women and children, with 148 others being injured.
The Algerian Revolution, led by the National Liberation Front against French colonial rule, sparked in November 1954. In November 1957, the French delegation withdrew from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference in protest against the American-British action of supplying weapons to Tunisia, fearing they would reach Algerian rebels on Tunisian soil.
To suppress the Algerian resistance, the French army resorted to brutal methods including forced displacement of populations, executions, torture, and the use of incendiary napalm shells. This led to the displacement of hundreds of families who sought refuge in camps in Morocco and Tunisia.
Despite French attempts to control the border crossings between Algeria and Tunisia, the northern mountainous regions slipped out of their complete control, leading Algerians to secretly flock to northwestern Tunisia, especially the village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, to escape French persecution and the horrors of war.
The Algerians integrated into Tunisian daily life, engaging in trade and construction work, with some settling in refugee camps on the outskirts of the village, which France considered a rear military base for the National Liberation Front of Algeria. Medical care was provided to wounded from military operations against French forces, and families of Algerian resistance fighters found shelter there.
In response to the Algerian resistance, the French army resorted to air raids, including the Battle of “Jebel Wastah” in January 1958, which resulted in a significant setback for General Charles de Gaulle’s strategies to quell the Algerian revolution. This led to a law issued to chase Algerian National Liberation Army elements wherever they were located to target pockets of resistance against French forces.
As the support for the Algerian revolution increased from various political and civilian groups in Tunisia and border areas, the French occupation planned a major attack to sow discord between the two peoples and force Tunisians to abandon their support for the liberation revolution.
France executed their plan through preemptive attacks to terrorize Tunisians, with the first armed attack on Sakiet in the context of pursuing National Liberation Army elements on October 1st and 2nd, 1957, and a second attack on January 30th, 1958, after a French plane was fired upon by the National Liberation Army.
Following Governor-General Robert Lacoste’s visit to eastern Algeria, on the morning of February 8th, 1958, 25 planes, including 11 bomber planes, took off from the Bon airbase towards Sakiet Sidi Youssef, launching continuous airstrikes and bombardment on the village for over an hour between ten and eleven in the morning.
The French army intended to inflict a substantial number of casualties, evident in their choice of attack day, coinciding with the weekly market in the city where a large number of people gathered, along with a significant influx of Algerians receiving aid from humanitarian organizations like the Tunisian Red Crescent and the International Red Cross.
Sakiet Sidi Youssef was bombed with bombs and machine guns; the bombardment targeted government buildings, elementary schools where children sought shelter, the eldest being 11 years old, as well as suspected locations of National Liberation Army elements.
The French bombardment resulted in the deaths of 76 Algerians and Tunisians, including women and children, while 148 others sustained serious injuries. The material losses included the destruction of International Red Cross and Tunisian Red Crescent trucks, public institutions like the Delegate’s House, National Guard Center, Customs Center, Post Office, Elementary School, Forest Management, and Mine Management, along with 43 shops and 97 houses.
The French attack led Tunisians to threaten expulsion of French families residing in the country, demanding the closure of French consulates in northwestern cities such as El Kef, Jendouba, and Majaz al Bab. The New Constitutional Party called for massive protests and strikes nationwide.
Protests erupted in various Tunisian cities, including Tunis, Bizerte, Ras Jebel, Hammam Lif, Tabarka, Ghar al Melh, and others, with crowds heading to French military barracks, demanding their departure. Following the attack, the Tunisian government set up roadblocks and cut off supplies to the French military base in Bizerte, while also preventing French ships from entering Lake Bizerte.
The Tunisian government expelled five French consuls working in key Tunisian cities and then-Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba lodged an official protest with the United Nations Security Council, calling for an investigation into the bloody events. The French aggression on Tunisia prompted the US administration to intervene significantly in the North Africa crisis, appointing the US and UK to lead a mediation committee to monitor the French-Tunisian crisis.
In the midst of these events, American and British diplomacy began to move forward, proposing mediations led by the US and UK, with France facing a severe political crisis leading to the fall of their Fourth Republic.
In summary, the French attack on Tunisia had significant political repercussions, leading to diplomatic maneuvers and calls for negotiations amidst turmoil in North Africa.
