French Development Agency’s CEO Provokes Algeria Again From Rabat
French politicians express considerable regret over the current situation of Franco-Algerian relations, but they offer no solutions to restore calm. On the contrary, they exacerbate the rift by making decisions that, to say the least, are irresponsible, as they push the Algerian side toward a more hardline stance. This raises a legitimate question: Is Paris truly seeking de-escalation with Algeria?
In an unsurprising move, the French Development Agency’s (AFD) CEO, Rémy Rioux, emerged from the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on Thursday to make new statements that amounted to an insult to anyone calling for de-escalation between the two capitals. He affirmed the commitment of the agency he heads, which is affiliated with the French government, to invest in the ports and infrastructure sector in the occupied Sahrawi territories. This came despite his awareness that the Western Sahara issue was the spark that ignited the conflict, shattering bilateral relations, a moment of recklessness by the French President Emmanuel Macron in the summer of 2014.
French officials are aware that Rémy Rioux’s remarks, made after he met with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, will exacerbate the crisis and eliminate any hope of de-escalation. Therefore, various French media outlets, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), unusually refrained from reporting on them. Unfortunately for decision-makers in Paris, the pro-Moroccan press was quick to broadcast the remarks, both audio and video, thereby exposing what appeared to be a systematic cover-up orchestrated by a single editor-in-chief based in Paris.
In the video largely circulated by Moroccan newspapers, television channels, and websites, the CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD) offered nothing new. He stated that his visit was part of fulfilling commitments made by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Morocco in October 2024. This puts the Élysée Palace’s desire to ease tensions with Algeria to the test, as Rémy Rioux’s visit could not have been undertaken solely on his own initiative, without the knowledge of the Élysée Palace.
The remarks by the French Development Agency’s CEO came just days after an interview given by the French ambassador to Algeria, Stéphane Romatet (who was not in Algeria at the time), to Radio France Internationale (RFI). In the interview, Romatet expressed his regret over the situation of Algerian-French relations, stating that the upholding of the sentence against French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, convicted of supporting and praising terrorism, and the enactment of a law criminalising French colonisation in Algeria, had set back efforts to improve relations between the two countries.
Despite the French officials’ awareness of the root cause of the strained relations between Algeria and Paris, they, although they have differences, focus on peripheral issues in the crisis and fail to address the core problem. These issues include the deportation of Algerians subject to illegal expulsion orders from French territory, the imprisonment of a French national accused of supporting and praising terrorism in Algeria, and the enactment of a law criminalising French colonisation. However, they ignore Algeria’s demands for the extradition of dozens of wanted individuals, a demand enshrined in bilateral agreements. Furthermore, they neglect to rectify France’s stance on the Western Sahara issue, which is considered an unfriendly position by Paris towards Algeria.
The French position on the Western Sahara issue is considered the primary reason for the deterioration of bilateral relations. Despite this, the French persist in their obstinacy, failing to learn from the approach taken by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in aligning his country’s stance on the Western Sahara issue. Since the spring of 2022, he has not once mentioned the alleged sovereignty of the Moroccan regime over the Western Sahara territories, despite his interventions on several occasions at the United Nations.
As for the French, they have openly and proudly displayed their animosity towards Algeria on this issue. They worked tirelessly within the halls of the United Nations last October to garner support for UN Resolution 27/97 on Western Sahara, in the exact form drafted by the United States, the penholder, and to ensure its passage as is. The French were even more fervent than the US itself, which reluctantly conceded and amended the resolution to circumvent the Chinese and Russian vetoes. So, how can the French possibly face the Algerians while calling for a de-escalation of bilateral relations?