Said Moussi will not return to Paris. The President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune officially terminated the functions of the Algerian ambassador to France in a decree published in the Official Journal this Thursday, October 3.
“By presidential decree of 14 Rabie El Aouel 1446 corresponding to September 18, 2024, the functions of ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, exercised by Messrs.: Saïd Moussi, in Paris (French Republic), as of July 30, 2024, called to exercise another function. Chakib Rachid Kaid, in Lisbon (Portuguese Republic), as of September 30, 2024, called to exercise another function; Mohammed Belaoura, in Dublin (Republic of Ireland), as of September 30, 2024, admitted to retirement, is terminated.”
According to this decree, Said Moussi will not return to the French capital. Algeria should therefore appoint a new ambassador to replace him.
The now-former diplomatic representative of Algeria in France experienced the same scenario when he was stationed in Madrid, before being recalled in March 2022 not to return. Algeria ended up appointing Abdelfettah Daghmoun as a new ambassador to Spain in November 2023.
Algeria without ambassador in Paris for more than two months
Algeria has been without an ambassador in Paris since July 30, after the Moroccan Royal Palace published a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron to Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Western Sahara.
On the very day of the publication of this letter, which confirmed the change in France’s position on the Sahrawi conflict, Algiers recalled with ” immediate effect ” its ambassador to Paris, Said Moussi, as a sign of protest against Macron’s decision to align his country with the Moroccan position on the Western Sahara issue.
In his letter to King Mohammed VI, President Macron wrote that France considers the Moroccan autonomy plan as the ” sole basis ” for the settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara, while until then Paris supported the Rabat plan, without considering it as the only solution.
This new French position amounts to an explicit recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied Sahrawi territories.
The new French position has allowed the thawing of relations between France and Morocco, after a long period of cold, against a backdrop of espionage affairs via the Israeli Pegasus software on Macron’s phone and attempts to bribe European deputies in which the kingdom is involved in Europe.
Despite all these affairs and scandals in which the Moroccan services are involved in Europe, Paris has ended up responding favorably to Rabat’s requests to change its position on Western Sahara, and President Emmanuel Macron is expected at the end of October on a state visit to Morocco to seal this rapprochement blessed by the extreme right and anti-Algerian lobbies in France.
