This state visit, announced several times and then postponed, must take place in the context of warming diplomatic relations between the two countries
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will make a state visit to France “at the end of September-beginning of October”, the Élysée announced on Monday following a telephone interview between Mr. Tebboune and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
This visit, postponed several times against a backdrop of recurring hot and cold weather between the two countries, will take place “on a date to be specified” during this period, indicating the French presidency. It will occur a few weeks before the presidential election in Algeria, scheduled for December. President Tebboune, 78, has not yet announced whether or not he will run for a second term.
The visit, first scheduled for early May 2023, was postponed until June of the same year, with Algerians fearing that it would be spoiled by the May 1 demonstrations against the highly contested pension reform in France, according to sources. concordant. But Abdelmadjid Tebboune never confirmed his arrival, which was to mark the improvement between the two countries after several diplomatic crises. On the other hand, he went on a state visit to Russia at the same time, which was perceived as a repudiation of Paris.
In December, Algiers again assured that the conditions for a visit were “not suitable”, then mentioning five issues to be resolved beforehand, including those of memory, mobility, economic cooperation, and French nuclear tests in the Sahara Algerian. “The two presidents discussed the deepening of the renewed partnership between France and Algeria following the Algiers declaration” concluded during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algiers in August 2022, specified the Élysée.
This renewed partnership must intervene “on the economic, energy, agricultural, educational and cultural levels as well as in terms of mobility and human exchanges”, underlined the French presidency.
Memorial annuity
“Regarding questions of memory, they welcomed the recent progress of the Franco-Algerian Joint Commission of historians chaired by professors Mohamed Lahcen Zeghidi and Benjamin Stora, which will meet again in April,” she said. added.
The question of French colonization (1830-1962) still weighs very heavily between the two countries. The Algerian power resulting from the war of independence (1954-1962) draws its legitimacy from it. A real “memorial annuity”, was launched by Emmanuel Macron in 2021, after having tried in vain to seal reconciliation between the two countries, arousing the ire of Algiers.
“They also discussed regional issues and cooperation at the United Nations Security Council, particularly about the conflict in the Middle East,” she continues. The United States vetoed a draft resolution presented by Algeria in the Security Council in February that demanded “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin went to Algiers in November, where he was received by the Algerian president, to discuss in particular “the fight against organized crime”, and “migration” as well as the “consequences of the crisis” in the Middle East.
Relations between Paris and Algiers also fluctuate with those of France and Morocco, Algeria’s rival. In recent months, France has suffered setbacks with both countries. In February, it restarted a warming process with Rabat, without apparently hampering discussions with Algiers.
