Medelci speaks of nagging frictions in Algerian-French relations

The Algerian Foreign Minister, Mourad Medelci, has said that the Algerian-French relations are currently at a low ebb on account of the implications of the colonial past as well as the coercive measures taken of late by the French authorities regarding the free movement of Algerian citizens, notably the untoward decision to subject the Algerian passengers to systematic body scanner checks. 

• Speaking yesterday during a special broadcast on the national radio, Mourad Medelci  expressed Algeria’s refusal to see the French government include the Algerian passengers in the list of the citizens of those countries concerned by the special control measures enforced at the airports.
• He indicated, to this effect, that the French authorities had so far not expressed any comprehensible stance on the matter.
• The Algerian Foreign Minister further said that he summoned France’s Ambassador to Algiers Xavier Driencourt on January 5th to voice Algeria’s adamant rejection of the “discriminatory” and “unjustified” measures taken against the Algerian passengers, stressing that this was tantamount to a serious hurdle to the free movement of peoples between the 2 countries.
• According to Medelci, the Algerian – French relations are very far from brilliant as they are going through a turbulent period mostly on account of France’s incomprehensible and constrained policy.
• This friction in the bilateral relations has brought about the sudden postponement of a planned official visit to Algeria by the French Foreign Minister. Such a visit has been put off till next February.
• The relations between Algiers and Paris are still dogged by the legacy of France’s somber colonial past in Algeria in reference to the villainous French law of February 23rd 2005 which shamelessly glorifies colonialism,  Medelci asserted.
• He also evoked several pending files notably those pertaining to the Algerian archives held in France, the re-examining of the 1968 French-Algerian treaty on immigration and the investments outside hydrocarbons.