Coordinated French Attack on Algeria, Xavier Driencourt Launches hostility Campaign

Algeria’s French adversaries have resumed their symphony after weeks of silence, a development that suggests hints from certain circles within the decision-making apparatus in Paris. Xavier Driencourt, the former French ambassador to Algeria, appeared to add more fuel to the raging fire, thereby signaling the launch of a concentrated political and media hostility campaign against Algeria.

The campaign was initiated by Xavier last week with statements that included approaches regarding the reason for the French authorities’ refusal to acknowledge their colonial crimes in Algeria, which is a very sensitive issue and has contributed to poisoning bilateral relations.

In a video on the retired French diplomat’s “X” account, Xavier Driencourt hinted that the French side avoids acknowledging state crimes in Algeria because it would entail financial compensation for every victim killed by the occupation army, not to mention the wealth and resources of the Algerian people that were plundered for 132 years.

The former French ambassador to Algeria speaks of the alleged discrepancy in the numbers of Algerian martyrs throughout the colonial era, who number in the millions. He implied that the option of compensation would be very costly for the French state, relying on the words of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who spoke of about six million martyrs.

Driencourt claimed that “initially the number was about 500,000 martyrs, then it rose to one million martyrs, and in a recent interview, President Tebboune spoke of six million martyrs during the French occupation period…” He realizes that the six million martyrs, and perhaps more, according to many historians, include the entire period of French occupation, not just the years of the glorious liberation revolution.

For the retired diplomat, the period of possible reconciliation emerged during the rule of former French President Jacques Chirac (1995/2007), but it was lost due to the French Parliament enacting the law of February 23, 2005, which glorified colonial practices.

He also made the improvement of bilateral relations conditional on the departure of the generation of the November 1, 1954 revolution, which fought and defeated France.

Since Driencourt’s “outing,” after he had disappeared from public view for a while, the French media has resumed its concentrated attack on Algeria. Notably, the newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche,” published last Saturday, contained incitement against Algeria, exploiting the “Gen Z” youth movement that shook the Moroccan regime, in an article that seemed to be on demand.

The same newspaper, owned by businessman and godfather of right-wing media, Vincent Bolloré, also exploited the controversy that followed the announcement by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its arm “Campus France,” to increase the number of visas granted to Algerian students. It commissioned the Center for Strategic Studies (CSA), along with “CNews” and “Europe 1,” to conduct a poll on French attitudes towards the management of the visa file for Algerians.

The aim was to incite French public opinion against Algeria, which was the conclusion of the commissioned poll, as it aligned with the views of the far-right. The survey revealed that 76 percent of French people support suspending visas for Algerians, which is what those circles were seeking.

They aim to pressure the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reverse the decision to increase visas granted to Algerian students, in a political context experiencing sharp tensions between French President Emmanuel Macron’s camp and his allies on the right and far-right, amidst the nascent signs of Sebastian Lecornu’s imperial government.

As is customary, “Le Figaro,” considered one of the major right-wing and far-right platforms, did not shy away from delving into issues involving Algeria. It was among the newspapers that attacked the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the visa issue and advocated for placing this file in the hands of the Ministry of Interior, temporarily led by a right-wing minister, Bruno Retailleau.