French justice minister in an official visit to Algeria

The French Justice Minister Michelle Alliot Marie is today paying a two day visit to Algiers at the invitation of her Algerian opposite number Tayeb Belaiz. The visit comes against the background of high tension between the two countries over several issues.

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• In a communiqué released to the press yesterday, the ministry has indicated that “the visit aims at strengthening judicial cooperation between the two countries “. Some experts in the French- Algerian relationships have indicated that the two ministers will most probably discuss the case of the Algerian billionaire Abdelmoumen Khalifa, who is also convicted by the French judicial authorities on charges of bankruptcy and swindling.
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• The visit of the French minister to Algiers comes nearly a month after the one paid by the French Secretary of Foreign Trade Anne Marie Idrac through which she has declared that the two countries are about to give a new momentum to the relationships between Paris and Algiers. The visit contributed, in a certain way; in lifting the boycott imposed by the Algerian authorities over some French ministers on top of them the foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.
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• The Former French Premier Jean Pierre Raffarain is due to pay a visit to Algeria at the end of November where he has to confer with the Algerian deputy Prime Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni in a bid to restore the relationships between the two countries which have been deeply spoiled by irresponsible declarations made by some French officials in a recent past.
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• However, these relationships are still undermined by some pending issues including the implicit accusations made by the French authorities over the assassination of the French monks in “Tibhirine”, killed by the terrorist groups in the mid 1990s.
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