Will Macron Fix What the French “Barbouzes” Spoiled?

The Algerian-French relations did not last for less than six months, before returning to the troubled zone again, and the reason is always the French party, whose decision-making sources seem to be divided between the Elysee Palace and other unconstitutional centres of power, ready to destroy everything that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, has built with his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Ambassador Said Moussa, who came from the Spanish capital, Madrid, had not been in his post in Paris, except for six months, after a stormy crisis caused by the French president, in October 2022, when he began to question the existence of an Algerian nation before the French occupation of it in 1830, which is the drop that overflowed the cup, which was caused by the accumulation of French provocations, which affected even the right of Algerians to move towards French soil (the visa issue), as required by the legal norms framing relations between the two countries.

The case of Amira Bouraoui revealed an unacceptable provocation in the eyes of the Algerian side, as it is no less severe than the previous provocations, and the interesting thing about this case is that it came at a time when bilateral relations are witnessing remarkable movement characterized by calm and stability, in which the French side, represented by President Emmanuel Macron, was present, the party most keen to revive it again, as evidenced by his keenness to visit Algeria last August, and then assign the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, to move with about 15 ministers three months later, to put the understandings signed between the presidents of the two countries, under an embodiment.

The timing and circumstances of the “Bouraoui conspiracy” raise more than one question about who is behind this incident, which is now threatening the future of bilateral relations. The steps taken by President Macron since last summer in this regard radically collide with such an act (the smuggling of an Algerian national who is wanted by the judicial authorities and interfering illegally from another country “Tunisia” without respecting international laws on peoples’ movement), because its repercussions on everything he built will be explosive and destructive.

This fact was alerted to by the Algerian Press Agency’s telegram when it directly accused the French “Directorate General of External Security” of being behind this illegal operation, saying: “The French “Barbouzes” are no more hiding their intents but rather announcing them in public. They are about to achieve their objective which is reaching the point of no return in Algerian-French relations”.

Is it possible for Macron to do the opposite to destroy what he planned and worked for? All indications show clearly that the French DGSE do not work in complete harmony with the Elysee Palace, and this is considered a great insult to the sovereign state institutions such as the French Presidency, which is supposed to be the real and de facto leader of the master. Rather, such practices could undermine Macron’s efforts.

The position of the French side on the Algerian protest is that expressed by the spokesman for the Quai d’Orsay (French Foreign Ministry), François Delmas, in response to a question about Paris’s position on the case of Amira Bouraoui: “For our part, we intend to continue working to deepen our bilateral relations.” Diplomatic rhetoric that lacks tangibility, at a time when the ball is in the French president’s court, who has no choice but to come up with a more serious stance than that expressed by the services of Catherine Colonna, because the Algerian anger has gone beyond the Foreign Ministry to the Presidency of the Republic, which gave instructions to summon Algeria’s ambassador to Paris.

In the meantime, how can one read the Algerian position on this unexpected development?

Stopping at the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which it circulated last Wednesday, indicates a conviction among the Algerian authorities that the French president is not the one behind what happened, and therefore the statement does not carry words or references to the possibility of a rupture, even if it spoke of the “damaging bilateral relations”. Rather, it left the door open for troublemakers to correct their mistakes.

However, the same APS cable noted that; “It is unfortunate to see everything that was built between Presidents Tebboune and Macron, to open a new page between the two countries, collapsing. It seems that the occurrence of the estrangement is not far away”, so does Macron have the power to restore what was spoiled by the “Barbouzes”?

The clandestine and illegal exfiltration of the Algerian national Amira Bouraoui from Tunisia to France was organized by subversive networks in the pay of foreign countries, said Thursday the expert in geopolitical questions, Hacene Kacimi, considering that it was a matter of a “scandalous affair” which calls into question the rules and practices of international relations.

Speaking on channel 3 of Algerian Radio, Kacimi indicated that “these subversive networks in the pay of foreign countries organized Amira Bouraoui’s escape illegally”, specifying that this act aims to “thwart the legal proceedings which are in progress at the level of the Algerian justice”.

“The exfiltration of this Algerian national from Tunisia to France was carried out under conditions which remain to be clarified”, adding that this “implies and proves that she was also helped and financed from Algiers”.

“It is a scandalous affair which calls into question the rules and customs of international relations”, underlined Kacimi, considering that “a real foreign legion is acting on behalf of a foreign state”.

For this expert, “the status of refugee, granted in a complacent way to Amira Bouraoui by France, is a matter of hostility”, explaining that “they supported people who fled Algeria illegally and settled on French territory to escape judicial authorities and who have been complacently granted refugee status, so this amounts to hostility, and Algeria have never done these scandalous things when it comes to French wanted”.

In this wake, Kacimi mentioned “the return of colonialist hostilities against Algeria, noting that there are “settler lobbies who still believe in the return of French Algeria”.

“These lobbies have not understood that present-day Algeria is not that of the 1980s or 1990s when there were settlers from the foreign legion who infiltrated our institutions and worked hard to weaken us,” he argued.

As a reminder, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, ordered the recall to consultations of the Algerian Ambassador to France, Saïd Moussi, with immediate effect, a press release from the Presidency of the Republic indicated on Wednesday.

The Minister of Communication, Mohamed Bouslimani, for his part, refuted any link between Amira Bouraoui and the profession of journalism, affirming that presenting her as a “journalist” was a false allegation.