Abdelmadjid Tebboune violently attacks France once again. In a speech delivered on Sunday, December 29, to the members of both chambers of Parliament, the Algerian president returned for the first time to the affair of the writer Boualem Sansal.
In his speech, reported by the Algerian news site TSAAbdelmadjid Tebboune described the writer as “ impostor “, stressing that his declarations on the historical belonging of western Algeria to Morocco were ” unacceptable ». « 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 to France.
The rest after this ad
This statement follows comments by Boualem Sansal to the French media Frontières, according to which Moroccan territory was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria.
The rest after this ad
Boualem Sansal, critic of Algerian power and author in particular of 2084: the end of the world elderly, was arrested at Algiers airport in mid-November, under article 87 bis of the Algerian penal code, which punishes all attacks on state security. Opacity, nevertheless, dominates: if the official Algerian press agency described the Franco-Algerian writer as “puppet of anti-Algerian revisionism”no information has filtered out on the precise reasons held against him. After his arrest, Boualem Sansal received the support of many French political leaders and intellectuals, denouncing an arbitrary arrest and an attack on freedom of expression.
High tensions between France and Algeria
Through his speech on December 29, the Algerian president specifically attacked France, according to extracts in Arabic published on the official website of the presidency and translated by AFP. “ Those who say that we left Algeria a paradise should know that 90% of the Algerian people were illiterate at the time of independence ”, stressed Mr. Tebboune, believing that “ colonization left Algeria in ruins […] they must admit that they killed and massacred Algerians ».
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
One issue particularly troubles Abdelmadjid Tebboune: Western Sahara. According to the Head of State, the autonomy plan “under Moroccan sovereignty” defended by Rabat is “ a French idea, not Moroccan ».
Algiers withdrew its ambassador from Paris at the end of July when Emmanuel Macron gave strong support to Moroccan proposals on Western Sahara.
