French President François Hollande on a lightning visit to Algeria in mid-June

French president, Francois Hollande, will pay a short official visit to Algeria on Monday, June 15, according to convergent sources and it will be Hollande’s second visit of the like to Algeria since his coming to power.

The agenda of his upcoming visit will include a meeting with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

According to the “Jeune Afrique” news magazine, François Hollande’s express trip to Algeria  is still secret. But according to diplomatic sources, in addition to his  official meeting with president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the French head of state will move to the Renault car assembly plant located in the Tlilat area, near Oran in western Algeria.

The Renault  factory was inaugurated on 10 November2014. President Hollande’s planned visit is expected to last only one day. 

The direct management of this visit by the Palaces of El Mouradia in Algiers and the Elysée in Paris has already stoked some tensions. 

The Ambassador of Algeria to Paris complained to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of being apprised of such a visit only through indirect channels.

President Hollande’s visit to Algeria in June will be preceded by a trip to the country by foreign minister Laurent Fabius. 

Accompanied by the Minister of economy, industry and digitization,Emmanuel Macron, the head of French diplomacy will be in Annaba city (Eastern Algeria) on May 12 for the inauguration of the Algerian –French tramway line assembly plant.

Then, Mr Fabius will be received by his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamraand Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. An audience with president Bouteflika is also on the agenda of the forthcoming visit.

In a reaction, Former Algerian minister and diplomat Abdellaziz Rehabi said that such a planned visit has some electioneering purposes by the left-wing French President who is eager to swing the voting propensity of the Algerian migrant community members settled in France ahead of the next presidential polls in France by giving a boost to French-Algerian relations and cooperation as part of his projected visit to Algeria.