Tensions between France and Algeria: why have relations between the two countries not been particularly tense in recent weeks?

“In 2022 we have drawn up a roadmap, we want to ensure that (it) can be followed“, declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs during an interview on private radio RTL.

“But we observe postures, decisions on the part of the Algerian authorities which allow us to doubt the intention of the Algerians to stick to this road map. Because to stick to the road map, it takes two,” he added.

The Boualem Sansal case

Mr. Barrot declared himself “like the President of the Republic, very concerned by the fact that the request for release sent by Boualem Sansal and his lawyers was rejected.

Critic of Algerian power, Boualem Sansal, 75, born to a father of Moroccan origin and an Algerian mother, has been incarcerated since mid-November for endangering state security and is in a detention unit. care since mid-December.

“I am concerned about his state of health and France is very attached to freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and considers that the reasons which may have led the Algerian authorities to incarcerate him are not valid”noted Jean-Noël Barrot.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune spoke for the first time last Sunday of the writer's arrest in mid-November in Algiers, describing him as “impostor” sent by France.

The author of “2084: the end of the world”naturalized French in 2024, is prosecuted under article 87 bis of the penal code, which punishes “as a terrorist or subversive act, any act targeting state security, territorial integrity, stability and the normal functioning of institutions.

“We want to maintain the best relations with Algeria but this is not the case today”regretted the French minister.

Algiers withdrew its ambassador to Paris at the end of July when French President Emmanuel Macron gave strong support to Moroccan proposals concerning Western Sahara, before going to Rabat at the end of October.