Barely the process of rapprochement started, Algeria and France entered a new phase of turbulence. To the incarceration of an official of a consulate in Algeria in France, Algiers replied by the expulsion of 12 agents of the French Embassy in Algeria.
To defuse this new crisis, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Emmanuel Macron must again speak to each other, as they did a few weeks ago, estimates the French deputy Éric Coquerel who wonders if the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau is not at the origin of this sudden return to square one. M. Downside is in favor of the hard line with Algeria.
After eight months of unprecedented crisis, the two countries resumed language on Monday March 31, through a telephone interview between the presidents Tebboune and Macron.
Algeria – France: Chronology at the start of a new crisis
The two heads of state established a roadmap for a return to normal of the bilateral relationship. On April 6, French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot went to Algiers. The two parties have agreed to put all the on the table on the table.
And while everyone saw the end of the quarrel, a new case broke out on Friday April 11 with the announcement of the incarceration in France of three individuals accused of being involved in the alleged kidnapping of Amir Boukhors, known on social networks under the name of Amir Dz.
Among the imprisoned people, an Algerian consular agent. Algeria expressed its protest to the French ambassador Stéphane Romatet, summoned on Saturday to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This Monday, the chief of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot indicated that Algeria decided to expel 12 agents from the French Embassy in Algiers. An unprecedented measure since independence.
According to Le Figaro, the agents subject to the expulsion all come from the Ministry of the Interior led by Bruno Retailleau. “One can wonder if it is not Bruno Retailleau who tries to take over the file in hand when he had been fortunately cornored by the President of the Republic”, wondered this Monday morning on TF1 the deputy of rebellious France (LFI) Éric Coquerel.
Algeria – France: Bruno Retailleau suspected of wanting to take over the file
The LFI deputy suspects the services of the Ministry of the Interior to have arrested three Algerians, including a consular agent, to sabotage the process of reconciliation between the two countries. “”Becausehe explained, It is obvious that from the moment when there are three people, three members of the Algerian Embassy, there would be reprisals” .
“The reaction is automatic. We know that Algiers does not allow himself to be done and that in this kind of confrontations, they raise the tone, “he said. While pointing to Retailleau’s responsibility, the deputy called on the two heads of state to go again immediately.
“We want to start again to the confrontation that the President of the Republic fortunately stopped, triggered by Bruno Retailleau for I do not know what presidential object, because he had to think that it was good to attack Algeria, so me what I call is that the two presidents are talking again right away,” he suggested.
Paris threatens to retaliate
Jean-Noël Barrot said that France was ready for immediate “reprisals” if Algiers implemented the expulsion of his agents.
On X, the former French ambassador to the United States Gérard Araud said such a reaction is inevitable. “Algeria expels twelve agents from our embassy. We must practice the exact reciprocity, “wrote the diplomat, who explained what he describes as” ba-ba of international relations “:” Make the slap received. Not one more, not one less. Likewise grade, comparable functions ”.
In short, the two capitals are likely to enter a new gear when observers expected the least.
