Paris and Algiers must “rebuild” their relationship, according to the French Minister of the Armed Forces

The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, called on Tuesday January 21 to “rebuild the relationship” currently very tense between Algeria and France, regretting “the current excesses of the Algerian government”.

Mr. Lecornu also expressed on France Inter radio “compassion, empathy and support” of France towards the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, imprisoned since mid-November in Algeria for endangering state security. “It says something about the current excesses of the Algerian government and especially how the relationship with France has become an income” in Algeria, estimated the French minister.

“We’re wasting time”

“Not loving France becomes a subject of domestic politics” in Algeria, deplored Mr. Lecornu, believing that“We have to get out of this”. “We are wasting time, including in the fight against terrorism”particularly in the Sahel countries, he continued. “We are in a breakdown and we need to be able to rebuild this relationship, without weakness, without naivety”estimated Sébastien Lecornu.

The often checkered relations between France and Algeria have deteriorated since the summer of 2024 with the announcement of Paris' support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony and scene of a conflict for half a century between Morocco and the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers.

Relations between Paris and Algiers have become further strained in recent weeks with the detention in Algeria of Boualem Sansal and the arrest in France of several Algerian influencers for advocating violence.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said last week “ready to [se] go to Algiers to deal with all questions »believing that “neither France nor Algeria had any interest in a lasting tension developing” between them.