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Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why are relations between Algeria and France so bad?
Relations between Algeria and its former coloniser, France, have rarely been straightforward. After hitting a low point in July when France supported Algeria's regional rival Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, relations appeared to be recovering. But then the April arrest in France of an Algerian consular official along with two other men for alleged involvement in the kidnapping near Paris of Algerian government critic Amir Boukhors has triggered a new wave of tensions. So why are diplomats now being expelled, and what does this mean for relations between Algeria and its former coloniser? Let's break it down: Boukhors, or Amir DZ, is an Algerian online influencer and critic of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune with more than 1 million subscribers on TikTok. The French government gave Boukhors political asylum in 2023. But as far as the Algerian government is concerned, he's a fraudster and a 'terrorist', who they've been seeking to extradite from France since 2016. Algeria has tried to extradite Boukhors nine times. All attempts have been declined by to the newspaper Le Parisien in an interview published on April 9, Boukhors said that on returning to his home in Val-de-Marne near Paris during the evening of April 29, 2024, he was stopped by an unmarked car with flashing lights. Four men in civilian clothes handcuffed him and threw him into the vehicle. 'They first told me that an Algerian official wanted to talk to me, that that was why they were taking me. Then they told me the plan had changed and that I was going to Amsterdam,' Boukhors told the newspaper. Boukhors said he was then forced to swallow sleeping pills and was held in a 'container' for more than 27 hours before being released without explanation. A subsequent investigation by France's counterespionage agency uncovered information leading to the arrest on April 11 of three men with a fourth still reportedly at large. No information has been released about two of the men. However, the third was an Algerian consular employee, French officials said. Algeria issued a statement the following day strongly denying its official's involvement and protesting the person's arrest 'in public … without notification through the diplomatic channels'. The statement denounced what it charged was a 'far-fetched argument' based 'on the sole fact that the accused consular officer's mobile phone was allegedly located around the home' of Boukhors. All three suspects were later charged with 'kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking'. On April 14, Algeria announced that 12 French consular officials had 48 hours to leave the country. The statement, read on public television, confirmed the expulsions had been ordered in response to France's arrest of the Algerian official. According to the statement, the arrest had been intended to 'humiliate Algeria, with no consideration for the consular status of this agent, disregarding all diplomatic customs and practices'. France responded in kind the following day, expelling 12 Algerian consular officials from its territory and recalling its ambassador from Algiers. A statement from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron described the Algerian decision as 'incomprehensible and unjustified' and said Algiers should 'resume dialogue' and 'take responsibility for the degradation in bilateral relations'.France colonised Algeria for 132 years, killing Algerian civilians and creating a class structure in which European settlers and their descendants were on top. The French refused to leave Algeria, considering it an integral part of France. It was only after a war of independence that France finally left in 1962. Algeria is still referred to as the 'country of a million martyrs' because of the number of people killed by France during the fight for independence. But the dispute has not ended there. The issue of the Western Sahara is also causing tension, not just between France and Algeria but also across North Africa. Western Sahara – a disputed territory in northwestern Africa – is at the centre of the poor relations between Algeria and Morocco. Rabat claims the territory as its own and occupies the majority of it while Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front and has taken in tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees. France has largely backed Morocco – despite the United Nations not recognising Rabat's sovereignty over the Western Sahara. And last year, Macron said France's position was that it supported Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. At the time, Algeria voiced its 'deep disapproval' of France's 'unexpected, ill-timed and counterproductive' decision to endorse Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara and recalled its ambassador. However, relations between the two were thought to be improving since then. Speaking in early April after a series of talks intended to restore relations after the rift, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said: 'We are reactivating as of today all the mechanisms of cooperation in all sectors. We are going back to normal and to repeat the words of President Tebboune: 'The curtain is lifted.'' But the Boukhors case and the diplomatic expulsions that have followed it have made it clear that the curtain has fallen right back down.
Al Jazeera
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Why are relations between Algeria and France so bad?
Relations between Algeria and its former coloniser, France, have rarely been straightforward. After hitting a low point in July when France supported Algeria's regional rival Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, relations appeared to be recovering. But then the April arrest in France of an Algerian consular official along with two other men for alleged involvement in the kidnapping near Paris of Algerian government critic Amir Boukhors has triggered a new wave of tensions. So why are diplomats now being expelled, and what does this mean for relations between Algeria and its former coloniser? Let's break it down: Boukhors, or Amir DZ, is an Algerian online influencer and critic of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune with more than 1 million subscribers on TikTok. The French government gave Boukhors political asylum in 2023. But as far as the Algerian government is concerned, he's a fraudster and a 'terrorist', who they've been seeking to extradite from France since 2016. Algeria has tried to extradite Boukhors nine times. All attempts have been declined by France. Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien in an interview published on April 9, Boukhors said that on returning to his home in Val-de-Marne near Paris during the evening of April 29, 2024, he was stopped by an unmarked car with flashing lights. Four men in civilian clothes handcuffed him and threw him into the vehicle. 'They first told me that an Algerian official wanted to talk to me, that that was why they were taking me. Then they told me the plan had changed and that I was going to Amsterdam,' Boukhors told the newspaper. Boukhors said he was then forced to swallow sleeping pills and was held in a 'container' for more than 27 hours before being released without explanation. A subsequent investigation by France's counterespionage agency uncovered information leading to the arrest on April 11 of three men with a fourth still reportedly at large. No information has been released about two of the men. However, the third was an Algerian consular employee, French officials said. Algeria issued a statement the following day strongly denying its official's involvement and protesting the person's arrest 'in public … without notification through the diplomatic channels'. The statement denounced what it charged was a 'far-fetched argument' based 'on the sole fact that the accused consular officer's mobile phone was allegedly located around the home' of Boukhors. All three suspects were later charged with 'kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking'. On April 14, Algeria announced that 12 French consular officials had 48 hours to leave the country. The statement, read on public television, confirmed the expulsions had been ordered in response to France's arrest of the Algerian official. According to the statement, the arrest had been intended to 'humiliate Algeria, with no consideration for the consular status of this agent, disregarding all diplomatic customs and practices'. France responded in kind the following day, expelling 12 Algerian consular officials from its territory and recalling its ambassador from Algiers. A statement from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron described the Algerian decision as 'incomprehensible and unjustified' and said Algiers should 'resume dialogue' and 'take responsibility for the degradation in bilateral relations'. France colonised Algeria for 132 years, killing Algerian civilians and creating a class structure in which European settlers and their descendants were on top. The French refused to leave Algeria, considering it an integral part of France. It was only after a war of independence that France finally left in 1962. Algeria is still referred to as the 'country of a million martyrs' because of the number of people killed by France during the fight for independence. But the dispute has not ended there. The issue of the Western Sahara is also causing tension, not just between France and Algeria but also across North Africa. Western Sahara – a disputed territory in northwestern Africa – is at the centre of the poor relations between Algeria and Morocco. Rabat claims the territory as its own and occupies the majority of it while Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front and has taken in tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees. France has largely backed Morocco – despite the United Nations not recognising Rabat's sovereignty over the Western Sahara. And last year, Macron said France's position was that it supported Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. At the time, Algeria voiced its 'deep disapproval' of France's 'unexpected, ill-timed and counterproductive' decision to endorse Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara and recalled its ambassador. However, relations between the two were thought to be improving since then. Speaking in early April after a series of talks intended to restore relations after the rift, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said: 'We are reactivating as of today all the mechanisms of cooperation in all sectors. We are going back to normal and to repeat the words of President Tebboune: 'The curtain is lifted.'' But the Boukhors case and the diplomatic expulsions that have followed it have made it clear that the curtain has fallen right back down.
The National
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Tension flares between Algeria and France amid retaliatory expulsions
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has accused Algeria of stoking a rapidly deteriorating diplomatic dispute, as tension grows despite his visit to Algiers earlier this month aimed at thawing ties. "We are in a very regrettable situation in which dialogue dramatically deteriorated because of an unjustifiable decision by Algeria," Mr Barrot told radio station France Inter on Wednesday. He spoke after a series of retaliatory measures that French media described as the worst diplomatic rupture between the two countries since Algeria gained independence in 1962. On Tuesday, Mr Barrot announced the expulsion of 12 Algerian diplomats from France and recalled the French ambassador in Algeria for consultations, in response to Algeria's decision to expel 12 French officials from the embassy in Algiers. Algeria linked their expulsion to the arrest on Friday of three Algerian nationals in France, including a consular official, in connection with the 2024 abduction of prominent government critic Amir Boukhors, widely known online as "Amir DZ". The three men are also being prosecuted on charges of terrorist conspiracy and have been placed under pre-trial detention. Mr Boukhors, who has more than a million followers on social media platform TikTok, has accused Algeria of organising his 27-hour kidnapping to intimidate him. Algiers has issued nine arrest warrants against Mr Boukhors, who obtained political asylum in France in 2023. The Algerian Foreign Affairs Ministry has described the arrest of its official as an "unacceptable legal cabal" based "on the sole fact that the accused consular officer's mobile phone was located around the home address of the firebrand" - a reference to Mr Boukhors. Algiers has blamed the arrests on French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has long advocated for a harsher stance towards Algeria. Bilateral ties have been strained since last summer after French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated France's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara region - a move that angered Algeria, which backs the region's separatist movement. Mr Barrot, a centrist close to Mr Macron, described Algeria's reaction as "completely disproportionate", insisting that the arrests were a matter for France's independent judiciary. "Bruno Retailleau has nothing to do with this," he said. Daily newspaper Le Figaro reported that the 12 expelled French officials were all affiliated with the Interior Ministry. Despite asserting a firm line, Mr Barrot, has faced criticism from the political right, with some like Mr Retailleau calling for a complete overhaul of France's relationship with Algeria, including scrapping a 1968 agreement that lays the foundation for Algerian immigration to France. "This is what the 'graduated response' has led us to: a new humiliation," said Laurent Wauquiez, a Les Republicains MP and rival to Mr Retailleau in the party's coming leadership election. Algiers has accused the right of obsessing over Algeria for electoral gains. Mr Barrot warned against "irresponsible" grandstanding. He referred to Mr Retailleau's trip to Morocco on Monday during which Rabat promised to double its acceptance rate for repatriation of Moroccan nationals expelled from France. According to a French Senate report published in February, both Morocco and Algeria accepted roughly 10 per cent of such requests in 2023. A deadly knife attack by an undocumented Algerian man in the eastern French city of Mulhouse in February reignited debate in France over how to compel Algeria to comply with international law on deportations. The suspect, who killed a passer-by and injured five police officers, had been subject to 10 failed expulsion requests. Yet revoking bilateral agreements, as suggested by Mr Retailleau, will not lead Algeria to increase its acceptance rates, legal experts in France have warned. France is a former colonial power in both Algeria and Morocco but has more difficult relations with Algeria. Unlike Morocco, Algeria was considered an integral part of French territory after colonisation began in 1830. The legacy of the 1954-1962 Algerian war of independence, which costs hundreds of thousands of lives, remains a deeply sensitive and unresolved chapter in both nations' histories. In recent months, tension has been further stoked by the arrest of several pro-government Algerian influencers in France. On Tuesday, a court in the city of Lyon sentenced 54-year-old French-Algerian influencer Sofia Benlemmane to a nine-month suspended prison sentence for issuing death threats. The court also banned her from TikTok and Facebook for six months. According to daily Le Monde, Benlemmane had been expelled from Ivory Coast in 2023 for racist comments during the Africa Cup of Nations. Both Mr Barrot and Mr Macron have been working behind the scenes to ease tension. On April 6, Mr Barrot met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during a visit to Algiers, a week after the countries' leaders spoke on the phone. At the time, Mr Barrot claimed relations were "returning to normal". He had also raised hopes for the release of 80-year-old French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who was sentenced to five years in prison by an Algerian court in March on national security charges. They appear to be linked to his public support of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara region. His French lawyer has said he is battling cancer. On Tuesday, Le Figaro published a letter from Mr Sansal's daughters, Nawal and Sabeha, addressed to Mr Macron. In it, they described their father as a "hostage" caught in the crossfire of the diplomatic feud between France and Algeria.
Express Tribune
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
France expels 12 Algerian diplomats in escalating diplomatic row
France has ordered 12 Algerian officials to leave and recalled its ambassador from Algiers as relations between the two countries are now at the lowest. PHOTO: AFP France has ordered the expulsion of 12 Algerian diplomatic and consular staff, in a sharp escalation of tensions with its former colony. The move follows Algeria's decision to expel 12 French diplomats and marks a new low in relations that both countries had recently been working to improve. Paris announced the expulsions on Tuesday, a day after Algiers retaliated over the arrest of an Algerian consular official and two others in France. The trio are accused of involvement in the kidnapping of Amir Boukhors – a government critic and social media figure known to his followers as 'Amir DZ' – who was abducted near Paris in April 2023. French authorities say the suspects face charges of terrorist conspiracy, and one of them holds a diplomatic post. Boukhors, who has been granted asylum in France, was released a day after the abduction. The incident has sparked a diplomatic rift, with France recalling its ambassador from Algiers. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the expulsions were a direct response to Algeria's actions. Algeria has issued nine international arrest warrants for Boukhors on charges including fraud and terrorism, and is demanding his extradition. This is the first time France has detained an Algerian consulate employee, and if Algeria proceeds with its expulsions, it would be the first such move against French diplomats since Algeria gained independence in 1962. Despite a recent thaw in ties — highlighted by Barrot's meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune just last week — relations have once again soured. Disagreements over France's stance on Western Sahara and the jailing of French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal have further strained the bilateral relationship.
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
France expels 12 Algerian officials as row over alleged kidnapping escalates
France has expelled 12 Algerian consular and diplomatic officials and recalled its ambassador in Algiers, the French presidency said on Tuesday, in a retaliatory measure as a spat escalates between the two countries. 'The Algerian authorities are responsible for the sudden degradation of our bilateral relations,' President Emmanuel Macron's office said. Algiers has been protesting against France's detention of an Algerian consular agent suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an Algerian opposition activist. France later said Algeria had expelled 12 of its diplomatic staff. France's relations with its former colony have long been complicated, but took a turn for the worse last year when Macron supported Morocco's position over that of Algeria over the disputed Western Sahara region. But last week, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, had said that ties between the two countries were returning to normal. The activist and influencer Amir Boukhors, 41, is a critic of the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and has more than 1 million subscribers on TikTok, where he posts as Amir DZ. He has lived in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. Algeria has issued nine international arrest warrants against him on accusations of fraud and terrorism, but France refuses to extradite him. In April 2024, Boukhors was snatched outside his home in the Val-de-Marne, south of Paris, telling France 2 television in a later interview that he was handcuffed and bundled into a car by four men wearing police armbands. He claimed he was drugged and held in a 'container' for more than 24 hours before being released at 3am. 'I fell into a trap,' he said. Three men were arrested and put under investigation on Friday for the 'kidnap, holding and arbitrary detention' of Boukhors. France's national anti-terrorist prosecutor confirmed that one of the men arrested worked for the Algerian consulate at Créteil, south-east of Paris. Algeria has denied the official's involvement in Boukhors' kidnapping. In a separate source of tension between the countries, Macron has also called on Algeria to release Boualem Sansal, a 75-year-old writer sentenced to five years in prison for 'undermining the integrity' of the country. Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report.
