Political actors reacted yesterday to statements by French President Emmanuel Macron on Algeria, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Africa.
In an interview with Jeune Afrique published this Friday, Emmanuel Macron praised Tebboune’s courage and noted the need for a successful transition in Algeria.
“There is a desire for stability, especially in the more rural part of Algeria. Everything must be done for this transition to be successful. I tell you frankly: I will do everything in my power to help President Tebboune in this period of transition. He is courageous, ”said Mr. Macron.
Mohcine Belabbas, president of the RCD, notes as follows: “Speaking to African leaders, Macron believes himself authorized to distribute certificates of legitimacy to the leaders of the indigenous people that we are.” In the case of Algeria, he continues, “the French president authorizes himself to issue a certificate of confidence to the head of state. He says he is ready to help him in what he calls a transition period.
This is not a simple interference, but the revelation that France is at the helm of a roadmap for our country “, slices the leader of the RCD. Mr. Belabbas finds that the French president is practicing “administering lessons in democracy and governance”.
It is precisely, he says, the repeated interventions of official France in the sovereign choices of African countries that pose problems: “Post-colonial France is part of our problem in addition to being part of the painful past for Algeria. and Africa. Algeria and Africa cannot indulge in a subordinate status in the service of neocolonial interests “.
In the opinion of the president of the RCD, African leaders, “especially those elected by their peoples, must stop taking part in the France-Africa summit to which they are summoned as mere prefects to receive guidance and injunctions. Africans can afford the future they want for themselves. ”
Zoubida Assoul, president of the Union for Change and Progress (UCP), believes that France is to the rescue of the system and that Macron’s statement is a direct interference in the internal affairs of our country.
“The choice of timing is an indication of France’s desire to keep the system in place for its own interests”, notes Ms. Assoul, adding that “the Algerians have freed themselves from any form of tutelage and have since expressed it clearly. February 22 of the past year.
The uses in bilateral or multilateral international relations and of good neighborliness cannot justify the declarations of the French president ”.
The president of the UCP condemns this “interference” which, according to her, “undermines our popular national sovereignty”. “Before Macron, the French foreign minister congratulated Algeria on holding the referendum. Other French presidents have supported Bouteflika’s mandates! ” she recalls.
Karim Tabbou, president of the UDS – a party not yet approved – claims that official France is a “racist” France. “A France which does not want to accept that in this country democratic forces can emerge, an emancipated youth, a youth who is capable of defying underdevelopment.”
The PST also criticized the declarations of the French president: “The political attitude of Macron, who publicly reaffirms his unwavering support for the current Algerian regime, announces major economic, political and security concessions for the benefit of imperialism, and this, to the the expense of our sovereignty and our economic interests ”.
This party believes that the fragility of our political system opens the way to all forms of authoritarianism and the sale of our national wealth, to the permanent questioning of our democratic and social gains and will accentuate the neocolonial relationship. “These statements come just after the November 1 referendum and the regime’s historic defeat, which is no accident,” said the PST.
In addition, on social networks, academics and party activists have qualified Macron’s words as interference in the affairs of Algeria and Africa, but all consider that the French president is in his consistent role ” by maintaining the system which preserves its interests in Algeria and for these countries to do the same ”.
