Algeria again expressed its anger on Sunday after “irresponsible remarks” attributed to Emmanuel Macron, by de facto prohibiting the overflight of its territory to French military planes leaving for the Sahelo-Saharan strip, after recalling its ambassador on Saturday in France.
At the origin of the anger of Algiers, statements by the French president, transcribed on Saturday by the daily Le Monde and not denied by the Elysee Palace, were held during an exchange with about twenty young descendants of protagonists of the War of ‘Algeria (1954-1962). Mr. Macron believes that after its independence, the country was built on “a memorial rent”, maintained by the “politico-military system”.
“This morning, by filing the flight plans for two planes, we learned that the Algerians were closing the overflight of their territory to French military planes” which usually use Algerian airspace to reach the Sahel, where 5,000 French soldiers are deployed, told AFP the spokesman for the staff, Colonel Pascal Ianni, confirming information revealed by the daily Le Figaro.
The staff has not received any official notification of this decision, he said. Asked by AFP, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not yet officially reacted on Sunday in the middle of the day.
“This very slightly disrupts the flow of support, the planes must adapt their flight plan, but this does not affect the operations” carried out by France in the Sahel, put Colonel Ianni into perspective, assuring that the French staff no ‘had “no worries at this point”. “It is first and foremost a diplomatic question,” he concluded.
French intelligence missions in the Sahel, carried out using Reaper drones, are also not affected, he underlines. These drones operate from Niamey, Niger, and do not fly over Algeria.
– Visa restriction –
This ban on overflight comes however in a delicate logistical phase for the French general staff, which has begun in recent weeks a reorganization of its system in the Sahelo-Saharan strip, and in particular, in the north of Mali, bordering on Algeria.
France is in the process of leaving the northernmost military bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu, and Tessalit) and will reduce the number of troops in the Sahel, by 2023, to 2,500 or 3,000 men, against more than 5,000 today ‘ hui.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been greatly strained in recent days, as the 60th anniversary of the end of the Algerian war and its independence approaches.
According to the article in Le Monde which ignited the powder, Mr. Macron would have evoked in front of young descendants of protagonists of the Algerian War “a completely rewritten official history” which “is not based on truths” but on” a speech based on a hatred of France”.
In his exchange, Mr. Macron would have assured to have “a good dialogue with the president (Algerian, Abdelmajid) Tebboune”. “I see that he is caught in a system which is very harsh,” he would have added, however.
In a statement on Saturday, the Algerian presidency expressed its “rejection of any interference in its internal affairs” and announced the “immediate recall for consultation” of its ambassador in Paris.
On Wednesday, French Ambassador François Gouyette was also summoned to the Algerian Foreign Ministry to be notified of “a formal protest” after Paris’ decision to halve the visas granted to Algerians wishing to travel to France.
