It is by no means an exaggeration to assert that the entire galaxy of observers of the France-Maghreb relationship is hanging on the presidential lips of Emmanuel Macron. What will he say to comment on the arbitrary arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal? Above all, what will he do to guarantee his release?
A heavy silence has taken over the Elysée since this event. Emmanuel Macron, so quick to react on social networks to accompany and comment on national or international news, said nothing about this event which is spectacularly shaking up the relationship between Algiers and Paris. Moreover, no member of the government had made the slightest comment on this affair. Macron’s silence was echoed by that of the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati.
It is true that the entourage of the President of the Republic wanted to make clear the interest that Emmanuel Macron had in this arrest in terms which ensure a minimum service in terms of diplomacy and political communication: “The President of the Republic is very worried and is monitoring the situation carefully. He expresses his unwavering attachment to the freedom of a great writer and intellectual”
And it was only on Tuesday, November 27 that French diplomacy broke the ice of silence. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean Noel Barrot, considered that the detention by the Algerian authorities of the writer Boualem Sansal was “baseless” et “is simply unacceptable”. And to add that “nothing in the activities of Boualem Sansal supports the accusations which have now landed him in prison.”
This exit by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs necessarily reflects the state of mind of the President of the Republic despite his restrained expression on this affair. It is easy to imagine that given the nature of relations between Algiers and Paris, instructions for restraint were given to members of the government so as not to add fuel to the fire and to give diplomacy the necessary time to infuse its effectiveness.
Even without communication from the Elysée on the Boualem Sansal affair, it is easy to imagine that the two authorities, Algerian and French, inevitably entered into unofficial contact to examine the ins and outs of this striking arrest. with full force the difficult relations between France and Algeria.
Boualem Sansal is an intellectual to whom Emmanuel Macron had personally granted French nationality through reintegration. The fact that he is arrested in these circumstances and accused with such heavy charges, terrorism and threats to the security of the Algerian state, is likely to complicate Macron’s relations with the Algerian regime of President Abdelmajid Tebboune.
Whether we like it or not, the Sansal affair puts this Franco-Algerian relationship on a dizzying slope. Either the Algerian regime realizes its threats and follows through on its vengeful logic by throwing Boualem Sansal into Algerian jails for the rest of his life, or it responds favorably to French requests to release him after an escalation that the friends hope artificial.
In any case, the immediate future of relations between France and the Algerian regime will depend on the outcome of this Sansal affair, which is already transforming into an invisible standoff between Paris and Algiers. It is very difficult to imagine that a man like B. Sansal is imprisoned in Algerian prisons and to imagine the slightest parade from an Algerian official, much less President Tebboune in Paris.
Visits by Algerian officials would become, if not anachronistic, at least the subject of strong tensions. It is just as difficult to envisage that Paris could continue its relationship with the Algerian authorities as if nothing had happened.
Still! The big question that everyone is asking themselves today is: will Emmanuel Macron finally resort to the multiple dissuasive weapons available to his administration to force the Algerian authorities not to fall into the logic of persecuting an intellectual? who only expressed a point of view or a conviction?
These weapons of dissuasion against Algeria that some, particularly on the right, are calling on Macron to use relate to the famous ’68 agreement on immigration, the control of financial flows between the two countries, not to mention the very delicate question of ill-gotten assets by the Algerian political and military elite in France.
