Question 15152 — archives and libraries

Summary

Mr. Thomas Portes questions the Minister of Armed Forces and Veterans about access to the archives relating to the arrest, detention and death of Mr. Abdourahman Djama Hassan, known as Abdourahman Andoleh, which took place in Djibouti in March 1967, when the territory, then called the French Somali Coast, was placed under French administration. Mr. Abdourahman Djama Hassan was a trade union and political figure involved in the pro-independence movement. Executive within the Franco-Ethiopian railway company, founder and general secretary of the workers' union of this company, he was also involved in the Popular Movement Party. Several administrative documents sent by his family indicate monitoring by the French authorities between 1960 and 1964, particularly during his international travel, his passport applications and entry into the territory of a vehicle belonging to him. According to information reported by his family, Mr. Abdourahman Djama Hassan was arrested at his home by French forces on March 21, 1967, in the context of the repression following the referendum of March 19, 1967 on the future of the territory. According to these same elements, he was then detained until his death in conditions which were never officially established. His body would have been transported at the morgue on the night of March 27 to 28, 1967, in circumstances which were never officially established or communicated to his descendants. An article published in Le Monde on March 29, 1967, repeating a dispatch from Agence France-Presse dated March 28, 1967, reported the death in Djibouti of a member of the Popular Movement Party, a former trade union leader, arrested on March 21 the day after the riots following the referendum. According to his descendants, his body showed traces of violence, an element which has never been the subject, to their knowledge, of an official clarification or communication of archives making it possible to establish the exact circumstances of his death. These elements make it necessary to completely identify the administrative, military, police and judicial archives relating to his arrest, detention and death. More than fifty years after the events, his descendants indicate that they have received no official information on the conditions of his arrest, detention and death. Steps have reportedly been taken with the national archives, the defense historical service and the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents, without allowing, at this stage, effective access to the documents sought. This situation raises the question of identification, communicability and, where appropriate, declassification of public archives relating to events occurring in territories formerly under French administration, in particular when these archives concern people who died after their arrest. In this context, the MP questions the Minister on the research undertaken or likely to be undertaken within the funds falling under of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, in particular the Defense Historical Service, in order to identify all the documents relating to the arrest, detention and death of Mr. Abdourahman Djama Hassan. Il also questions him on the conditions under which these archives could be communicated to his family, including by way of a request for exemption or a declassification procedure when this would be necessary. Finally, he asks her about the measures that the Government intends to take to guarantee effective, transparent and unhindered access to archives relating to violence committed during the colonial period, in particular when these concern people who died after their arrest or while they were under the authority of the French administration.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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