The head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot expressed this Sunday “doubts” about Algiers’ desire to respect the road map for Franco-Algerian bilateral relations, also repeating his concerns regarding the case of writer Boualem Sansal . Relations with Algiers, which withdrew its ambassador from Paris at the end of July when Emmanuel Macron gave strong support to Moroccan proposals concerning Western Sahara, have experienced several periods of tension since the start of the head of state's mandate.
“We have drawn up a roadmap in 2022, we want it to 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 keep the roadmap, it takes two,” he added.
The writer Boualem Sansal at the heart of tensions
Jean-Noël 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 has been 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, calling him an “imposter” sent by France.
The author of 2084: the end of the worldnaturalized French in 2024, is prosecuted under article 87 bis of the Penal Code, which sanctions “as a terrorist or subversive act, any act targeting the security of the State, the integrity of the territory, the stability and the functioning normal of institutions”. “We wish to maintain the best relations with Algeria […] but this is not the case today,” regretted the French minister.
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