Called back to Algiers for consultations in February following the Amira Bouraoui affair, Saïd Moussi returned to his post at the embassy in a context of detente between the two countries.
The Algerian ambassador to France, Saïd Moussi, returned to his offices in Paris on Wednesday March 29, fifty days after his recall to Algiers for consultations following the affair of the Franco-Algerian opponent Amira Bouraoui, whose the arrival in France via Tunisia caused a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
The return of the Algerian diplomat to his post is the second sign of the beginning of a thaw in relations between Paris and Algiers after the telephone exchange, Friday March 24, between President Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune. While they had not spoken since the start of the crisis, the two heads of state renewed contact to, first of all, explain the circumstances of the arrival in France of this 46-year-old gynecologist. years, and to revive relations that Tebboune described as “fluctuating”.
This resumption of duties should make it possible to renew contacts at all levels between French and Algerian officials, after a virtual break that occurred following the crisis. The French authorities are now waiting for the Algerian government to lift the suspension of the issuance of consular passes, a measure taken in the wake of the recall of Said Moussi. These documents issued by the Algerian consulates in France are essential to allow the deportation to the border of Algerian nationals subject to an expulsion order from French territory.
For its part, Paris appointed, Wednesday, March 22, Stéphane Romatet as French ambassador to Algeria to replace François Gouyette, whose mission ends at the end of next July. Ambassador of France to Egypt, Romatet is currently director of the Crisis and Support Center at the Quai d’Orsay.
Tebboune’s visit conditioned on French news
In the coming days, the two parties should also resume contact to prepare for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s state visit to France, scheduled for May 2 and 3, although these dates have not yet been officially confirmed by Paris and Algiers. If the prospect of this visit was mentioned during the telephone exchange between Macron and Tebboune, its continuation on the agreed dates depends on several parameters. It is that there is almost only one month left for the two parties to organize in the smallest details this state visit whose protocol, ceremony, decorum obey rules. Will a month be enough to complete everything? Even.
The maintenance of the visit on the scheduled dates also depends, in part, on the mobilization against the pension reform, the strike movements and the demonstrations which have drawn tens of thousands of people to Paris and the provinces once or twice a week since the beginning of February. If this protest movement lasts until next May, maintaining the Algerian president’s visit would become hypothetical. Like that of the King of England, Charles III, scheduled for March 26 to 29, and which was postponed at the request of the Elysee Palace due to the tense social climate.
To receive the Algerian head of state, Paris has planned a parade on the Champs-Élysées, as well as an overflight of air force fighters. A solemn tribute to the Emir Abdelkader, figure of the Algerian resistance to the French conquest and prisoner in the Château d’Amboise from 1848 to 1852, is envisaged within the framework of the work of reconciliation of memories .
