What happened between Algiers and Paris…?

Despite the raging war of words between officials in both Algeria and France, which prompted many observers to believe that an acute crisis is the order of the day between the two countries, but the mutual of visits did not stop for that matter, thus reinforcing the standing theory that what happened between Algeria and Paris these recent days was just a storm in a teacup.

To substantiate this argument, the Director General of National Security (DGSN), Major General Abdelghani Hamel, on a recent working visit to France, spoke about “establishing strong bilateral cooperation and greater coordination between the two countries’ security bodies to enforce the law so as to cope efficiently with the threat of terrorism and to beef up the fight against the roots of extremism,” according to a statement issued by the DGSN.

Before that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Ramtane Lamamra, was also on an official  visit to Paris where he oversaw the launch of the Algerian Consulate of Creteil, and during which Lamamra sought to play down the “simmering tension” between the two countries by quoting the remarks attributed to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he was foreign affairs minister during the Boumedienne era by saying: “the Algerian-French relations can be good and can be bad, but I stress that they can never be dull or trivial. “

Mr Lamamra further recalled in particular that a French delegation consisting of ten elected officials of several cities of France, visited Algeria these last few days, in the context of increased decentralized cooperation.

“I think it is an inexhaustible reservoir of fruitful cooperation and mutual assistance between the French and Algerian municipalities” Mr Lamamra underlined, while stating that the recommendations were made in Algiers, but there is a essential role to be played for this cooperation-oriented purpose by the members of the Algerian community settled in France.

Some days earlier, the President of the France-Algeria Friendship Association, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, paid a visit to Algiers and held talks with Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sellal and other senior Algerian officials on ways of shoring up bilateral relations and dispelling some “lingering misunderstandings” as he put it between the two countries.

Although the France-Algeria Association is not a formal organization, Jean-Pierre Chevènement is considered close to the decision-making hubs in Paris, and to leading French political figures, thus bestowing upon his visit to Algeria a special character.