Paul Kirby
European Digital Editor
AFP
File photos of Algerian President Abdelmajid Tabborn and France’s Emmanuel Macron from 2022
Reminiscence of the Algerian ambassador, France ordered 12 Algerian diplomats to leave Paris as the diplomatic line escalated.
Algeria expelled 12 French officials earlier this week after one of the consulates was arrested for the invitation of government critics living in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron’s office called the move “unjust and incomprehensible.”
However, the relationship has been on the slide for several months. Observers have described the crisis as unprecedented since Algeria secured independence from France in 1962.
The French foreign minister hoped to ease tensions after meeting with Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebuune in Algiers earlier this month.
Both countries have been criticizing each other for what Paris calls “a sudden deterioration in our bilateral relations.”
“The Algerian authorities chose to escalate,” said Jean Noel Barott, French Foreign Minister.
However, Algerian Minister Sofian Chive said that when the relationship was in the “warm-up phase,” the latest “manufactured” spat took to Bruno Reciroh’s Home Minister.
They soured last year when Macron announced that France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty in the western Sahara, supporting a plan for limited autonomy in conflict zones.
Algeria supports and is considered its main ally in favour of the independent Polisario front in the western Sahara.
Boualem Sansal, a French Algerian novelist, was arrested at Algiers Airport in November and was jailed for five years last month.
Prosecutors said his remarks questioning Algerian boundaries have undermined national security.
Gabriel Bouis/AFP
Boualem Sansal was taken into custody in November and he arrived on a visit to Algiers
However, Rechiro became increasingly caught up in the queue when Algiers refused to accept around 60 Algerians who wanted to be removed by his ministry being classified as “dangerous.”
A fatal February knife attack in the eastern city of Malhouse would not have happened, Rechiro said, “if Algeria respects the law and its obligations.”
Macron tried to clear the air last month, describing what he described as a “long, open and friendly exchange” with the Algerian president.
Barott followed on a visit to Algiers, saying, “France hopes to turn the page about current tensions.”
However, the famous contact failed to put an end to the spiral of the underlying problem.
The latest escalation comes after an Algerian consul official was arrested last Friday in April 2024 by luring out an exiled Algerian influencer called Amir DZ.
Amir DZ, a well-known critic of the Algerian government with over a million followers on social media, was eventually released in the forest.
A fierce Algiers said the arrest of the consular authorities was intended to “humiliate” Algeria and responded by ordering the expulsion of 12 French officials, whom they said were under the supervision of the French Ministry of Interior.
Algerian Secretary of State Sofian Chive told National Television Tuesday that Rechiroe is “fully responsible for this new situation.” He accused the basis behind the consul’s arrest of the consul’s officer as “grotesque.”
“It is unacceptable that France is a playground for Algeria’s intelligence reporting agency.”
Paris responded late Tuesday with the expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, recalling its ambassador, Stephen Romatette, for consultation.
Meanwhile, Barott said the ambassador will return to Paris within 48 hours, but said his government must eventually resume dialogue with Algiers.
“If the French need results, sooner or later they have to have a straightforward, high-level, challenging dialogue,” he said.
