In a virulent speech, Algerian President Tebboune attacks France and the writer Sansal, accused of being an “imposter” sent by Paris. Diplomatic tensions are increasing against a backdrop of conflict…
It is a speech which risks reviving tensions between Algiers and Paris. For the first time, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune publicly spoke of the mid-November arrest of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. But far from calming things down, the head of state described the 80-year-old intellectual as an “imposter… sent” by France, according to comments reported by the TSA information site.
A writer at the heart of stormy relations between Algeria and France
A critical figure of the Algerian regime, Boualem Sansal has been incarcerated since mid-November for endangering state security. He is currently in a care unit due to his worrying state of health. But for Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the matter goes beyond the simple individual case. “ You send an impostor who does not know his identity, does not know his father and comes to say that half of Algeria belongs to another state“, he declared in an excerpt of a speech taken up by TSA, referring to polemical remarks attributed to the writer.
Controversial statements on Algeria's territorial integrity
According to a source close to the matter, the Algerian authorities would have taken very badly the statements of Boualem Sansal to the French media Frontières, reputed to be far-right. The writer would have taken up Morocco's position according to which Algerian territory would have been truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria. Explosive remarks while the question of borders inherited from colonization remains an ultra-sensitive subject between Algiers and Rabat.
The thorny question of Western Sahara
Beyond the Sansal case, President Tebboune took advantage of his speech to settle scores with France on another burning issue: the Western Sahara conflict. This former Spanish colony is 80% controlled by Morocco but claimed by the separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria. For Abdelmadjid Tebboune, it is “a question of decolonization and self-determination”. A direct sting against the Moroccan plan for autonomy of the Sahara “under Moroccan sovereignty”, which the Algerian president describes as a “French idea, not Moroccan”.
Paris accused of leaving Algeria “in ruins” after independence
The attacks against France were not limited to the question of Western Sahara. In his speech to the nation, President Tebboune violently attacked the former colonizing country. “ Those (in France) who say that we left Algeria a paradise should know that 90% of the Algerian people were illiterate at the time of independence“, he insisted, estimating that “ colonization left Algeria in ruins“. And to drive the point home: “ They must admit that they killed and massacred Algerians“. Remarks of rare virulence in the mouth of a head of state.
A new escalation in diplomatic tensions
This incriminating speech comes in a context of strong tensions between Algiers and Paris. At the end of July, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to France after President Emmanuel Macron provided strong support for Moroccan proposals on Western Sahara. Mr Macron's visit to Rabat at the end of October had further added fuel to the fire. With these new declarations, Abdelmadjid Tebboune seems determined to maintain pressure on France, even if it means sacrificing bilateral relations a little more. The Boualem Sansal case could well serve as a new point of tension between the two countries.
In any case, the arrest and detention of the Franco-Algerian writer continue to arouse strong emotion. Prosecuted under article 87 bis of the penal code which severely punishes any attack on “state security, territorial integrity, stability and the normal functioning of institutions”, Boualem Sansal risks a heavy sentence. A situation considered worrying by many intellectuals and human rights defenders, who see it as an attack on freedom of expression. But in Algiers, the tone is now one of intransigence, as shown by President Tebboune's muscular speech. The Sansal affair could well crystallize Franco-Algerian tensions for a long time.
