Deviation in Paris, Weeping Over the Fate of Relations With Algeria

Once again, French officials lament the fate of relations with Algeria, which have entered a dark tunnel. Still, they do not dare to look in the mirror and stand on the truth of the party that has continuously destroyed bilateral relations before weeping over the current situation.

Over two consecutive days, Sunday and Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot expressed their concerns about the future of relations between Algeria and Paris, in what appeared to be an expression of their dissatisfaction with the decision of the Algerian authorities, which rejected any compromise in the case of the French writer, Boualem Sansal, who is in detention awaiting trial on charges related to harming Algeria’s territorial integrity.

On Monday, January 6, the French president could not control himself during a meeting with his country’s ambassadors and began to involve himself in a sensitive issue and in an even more sensitive circumstance, which is the Sansal case, saying: “Algeria, which we love so much and with which we share so many children and many stories, is entering into a story that dishonours it by preventing a seriously ill man from receiving treatment. Algeria is not up to what it is,” and he renewed his call for the release of Sansal, in a blatant interference in the affairs of the Algerian judicial authorities.

A day earlier (Sunday, January 5), French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot expressed his “doubts” about Algeria’s willingness to adhere to the roadmap for bilateral relations, which was announced during President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the country in the summer of 2022, or what was then called the “joint declaration” to strengthen relations between the two countries, which “are no longer what they were” as admitted by the French official expressing their deterioration.

The French Foreign Minister’s remarks came in an interview with several French newspapers, radio and TV channels, such as the public parliamentary channel “LCP”, the channel “M6”, “RTL” and the right-wing newspaper “Le Figaro”. He wondered about the fate of the aforementioned “roadmap”, saying: “We want to make sure that it can be followed”, before quickly adding: “But we are seeing postures and decisions of the Algerian authorities that allow us to doubt the Algerians’ intention to adhere to this roadmap which needs two parties”.

While Jean-Noël Barrot expressed the desire of the French authorities to restore relations with Algeria, he fell into the trap of undermining these relations by interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs, as he spoke about what he described as the “deep concern” of the French president regarding the rejection of the request to release Boualem Sansal, who committed serious crimes in the eyes of the Algerian authorities, in the interview he conducted with the French right-wing channel “Frontières”, in which he reversed facts known to everyone, taking up Morocco’s position that the kingdom’s territory was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria. This fabricated information received criticism from prominent experts such as the famous French historian, Benjamin Stora.

When the French Foreign Minister puts himself in the place of Algerian justice by demanding the release of the accused Sansal, claiming that “the reasons that may have prompted the Algerian authorities to imprison him are incorrect”, he has committed an unforgivable error for an official of his level, and he also contradicts his words in which he demonstrated his keenness to develop relations with Algeria, which is something that does not happen at all through interference in the internal affairs of any country, no matter what it is.

The remarks of both the French President and his Foreign Minister constitute an unjustified challenge to the first judge in Algeria, President Tebboune, who had strongly attacked the French writer, Sansal, last week (December 29, 2024), describing him as “an anonymous thief, sent by France.” This is another reason that does not lead to calming bilateral relations, but rather to exacerbating them.