The Quai d’Orsay says it wants to continue to “deepen” the Franco-Algerian relationship, after the diplomatic incident which led Algeria to recall its ambassador to Paris “for consultation”.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune decided to recall his ambassador to France, Said Moussi, “for consultations” on Wednesday (February 8th). This decision follows the exfiltration to France of the Franco-Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui who had found refuge in Tunisia and risked being delivered to Algeria where she is being prosecuted for “offending Islam”.
Amira Bouraoui is in the crosshairs of the Algerian authorities, for having campaigned in 2014 against a fourth term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika before becoming a figure of Hirak, the protest movement against the Algerian system. The activist was imprisoned in 2020 then released and finally sentenced – after several legal episodes – to two years in prison, a sentence she must serve from next spring.
The reasons for this condemnation are quite classic, concerning opponents in Algeria, namely “offense to Islam” and “attack on the person of the president”.
Amira Bouraoui had found refuge in Tunisia, from where she tried to catch a plane for France. She was retained by the Tunisian justice at first, but the French consular services – with the agreement of the Tunisian president – ended up allowing her to leave Tunisia and arrive in France.
Anger of the Algerian power
This provoked an extremely virulent reaction from the Algerian regime, which saw an emblematic activist escape, with the help of the French authorities and moreover with the agreement of Tunisia, to which Algeria has just granted 300 million dollars. to limit the effects of a disastrous economic and financial situation.
The immediate recall “for consultation” of the Algerian ambassador in Paris is coupled with a firm official condemnation, evoking an inadmissible and unqualifiable act. Algiers speaks of a “violation of its national sovereignty” and of the participation of diplomatic personnel in “a clandestine and illegal operation”. The government newspaper El Moudjahid evokes a “very unfriendly” act that “throws a chill” on bilateral relations a few weeks before a scheduled visit to Paris in May by Abdelmajid Tebboune.
France takes the hit
Paris confines itself to saying that the recall of the ambassador is an Algerian decision and that France will continue “to work to deepen the bilateral relationship in a renewed partnership”, according to the words used yesterday at the Quai d’Orsay. Reaction emblematic of the extremely conciliatory political line of Paris towards Algiers, while in return the Algerian regime shows a recurring tension with regard to France. Last August during his official trip to Algeria, Emmanuel Macron had multiplied the signs of openness in particular on the question of memory – Benjamin Stora was part of the delegation – but also by promising visas, one of the concerns of the Algerians. The French president had announced a renewed, concrete and ambitious partnership, even speaking of a “love story” between France and Algeria. A feeling that is often difficult to perceive.
