The one who prefers to pay the modest fine of 3,000 euros annually so that the state of his fortune remains safe from the curious has, this year, secretly met with the poorly re-elected Abdelmadjid Tebboune and senior Algerian officials. Since then, accommodating postures and complacent approaches towards the Algiers regime have multiplied, sometimes to the detriment of France itself. Has Algeria slipped into the tenuous gap that separates Dominique de Villepin and Villepin International?
He swears: his clients have no “none” effect on his public statements, “his geopolitical advice on the evolution of the world is an absolutely open word which contains no element of influence or conflict of interest”his firm Villepin International does not deal with “foreign powers”. While diplomatic tensions between Paris and Algiers continue to escalate, particularly after the accusations of genocide made by the poorly re-elected President Abdelmadjid Tebboune against France, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is increasing the number of impromptu declarations , without any real consideration of the underlying issues.
During his speech, Monday October 7 on Franceinfode Villepin regretted that Algeria had become the “scapegoat” of certain French problems, particularly in matters of immigration, a statement which seems to elude part of reality. Algeria, which has long benefited from a special status in France, notably through the 1968 agreements, has shown a notable reluctance to collaborate on essential issues such as the return of Algerians in an irregular situation. By suggesting that France bears sole responsibility for the current tensions, Dominique de Villepin seems to neglect the enormous role that Algiers plays in this impasse.
Moreover, Villepin’s repeated demand that France “should ask for forgiveness” pour “crimes committed during colonization” appears symptomatic of a unilateral approach to reconciliation, which Paris rejects. In Algiers, recently, during a conference, de Villepin argued the importance of what he called “French apology”affirming that this process is necessary “to heal the wounds of history.” However, this posture of forgiveness, observers insist, seems to obscure the efforts already undertaken by France under successive presidencies. The example of Emmanuel Macron’s recognition of the assassinations of Maurice Audin and Ali Boumendjel shows that France has not evaded its responsibility, but de Villepin seems to demand ever more contrition, without apparent reciprocity on the part of the Algeria, particularly on the violence perpetrated against the pieds-noirs or the harkis.
Permanent Algerian blackmail
The standoff fueled by Algiers towards Paris has become blatant: “We were a population of about four million, and 132 years later we were just nine million. There was a genocide”thundered Tebboune for the first time, accusing, during a television interview, a “hateful minority” in France to hinder any progress on the memorial issue.
Another point addressed in a cynical manner, the question of French nuclear tests in Algeria. Tebboune demanded that France “cleans up nuclear test sites”carried out between 1960 and 1966, France carried out seventeen nuclear tests on several sites in the Algerian Sahara. He also mentioned the Franco-Algerian agreement of 1968 which, according to him, became a “standard behind which the army of extremists marches” right-wing in France, who seek to repeal it.
Algeria, arbiter in the Sahara issue?
Another problematic aspect of Villepin’s position is his «critique» implicit in the support, now clear and unequivocal, of France for the Moroccan autonomy plan on the question of the Sahara, support which has further strained relations between Paris and Algiers. Villepin believes that Paris should have “do this in conjunction with Algeria”. Surprise: It did. The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted by expressing “great regret and deep disapproval” of Algiers in the face of the evolution of the French position on the Sahara before it was made official. Algiers threatened Paris that it “will draw all the consequences that arise from this French decision and for which the French government alone assumes full and complete responsibility” through a press release which deplores “unequivocal and unqualified support [de la France] to the autonomy plan for the Sahara within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
France has stated without hesitation that “the Sahara question is existential for Morocco and for all Moroccans” and gave the green light to the establishment of companies in the Saharan provinces, a strong symbolic gesture. De Villepin thus obscures the fact that France, as an autonomous diplomatic power, also has strategic alliances to preserve, notably with Morocco. Its stance in favor of systematic consultation with Algiers denotes a rigid vision of multilateralism, where Algeria, despite its political errors and unpredictable moods, would be arbiter, even guardian of the political balance and impartial observer in regional issues where its interests are opposed to those of its neighbors. This persistence on dialogue with Algiers, even despite deep differences, reflects an unprecedented form of diplomatic capitulation.
The discretion surrounding the private meeting which took place a few months ago between Dominique de Villepin and Abdelmadjid Tebboune, reported by Africa Intelligenceraises questions about the exact nature of these exchanges. During its last balance sheet, Villepin International showed 4.6 million euros in turnover and 2.6 million euros in profits in the year of its creation. Is Algeria now entering the «business plan» of this office? As a reminder, Algeria has been waging a diplomatic war against Morocco since mid-November 2020 following the deployment of Moroccan armed forces in a buffer zone in the far south of the Sahara to dislodge terrorist separatists supported by Algiers. These blocked the only trade route to West Africa, a vital axis that Rabat has now secured.
