The increasingly tense conflict between Paris and Algiers has swirled around what French diplomatic sources have said that Euroneus was the “biggest diplomatic crisis” since Algeria gained independence in 1962.
Beef, first sparked by debate over the contested territory of Western Sahara that reignited last year, was given further after Algerian increasingly authoritarian government detained French-Algerian novelist Sansal and French journalist Christophe Gleise, sentenced to five and seven years in prison, respectively.
Things have only gotten worse since then, and the cause has led to the severe expulsion of diplomats from each other’s countries.
In August, French President Emmanuel Macron halted bilateral transactions in 2013 on alleged “increasing difficulties in migration,” demanding that visa requirements be strengthened for Algerian diplomats and government representatives.
Spatt penetrated across the French border as Home Minister Bruno Reciro informed Schengen Partners of the new restrictions and informed Algerian diplomats that he had been denied entry to his vacation in Spain.
James McDorgle, a professor of history at Oxford University, North Africa, said the fact that “Algerian diplomats must obtain a visa just like everyone else” is “embarrassing and humiliating” gave all Algerians access to France given the post-independence agreement intended to give all Algerians, not to mention the exclusion of diplamats, visas.
“Unresolved Discussions”
The tensions in the Paris Society are a direct product of French colonial existence in North Africa, with former senior French diplomats familiar with issues describing the relationship as “difficult because they have to manage the past, history and future.”
Sixty years ago, Algeria’s brutal eight-year war of independence killed hundreds of thousands and left a country that France had colonized for over 130 years, but there is still echo in its continued diplomatic war.
The relationship between Elise and Algeria’s Elmuradia Palace has been particularly flareing since 1962 when Algeria nationalized French-owned natural resources in the 1970s and the introduction of laws enforcing the “positive impact” of colonialism in French schools continued in the early 2000s.
All of these issues continue to affect the way Algiers sees and reacts to what France does.
“Algeria often prioritizes maintaining an ideological position over a practical position… reflects a foreign policy deeply rooted in anti-colonial heritage and self-preservation,” Dr. Dahlia Ganem, Program Director for the Global Affairs Affair Affairs Council, told Euronews.
After the quest for independence, Algeria became the centre of anti-colonial and independence movements. Even today, walking through the city of Algiers grows larger offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the front resistance movement of Western Sahara Polisario.
As Dr. Ganem explained, support for these causes remains “a fundamental issue embedded deeply in the national spirit that determines the regional stance and alliance of Algeria.” It has housed and armed both groups for decades.
Political soccer
When the Western Sahara gained independence from Spain in 1975, it was annexed very quickly by Mauritania and neighboring Morocco itself to disappointment in Algiers.
Since 1994, the 1,500-km border between Algeria and Morocco was to fight the Polisario front until a ceasefire contract was reached in 1991, but was effectively sealed for a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations with the issue.
Paris always tried to walk the tightrope between them, often angering both sides. However, in 2024, Macron’s government subtly supported the longstanding Moroccan program, effectively claiming sovereignty over the disputed territory, in a bid that could have a warm connection with Rabat.
This has infuriated the already unstable Algiers, and the current crisis has escalated. But many believed this was made for years and boiled in the pressure cooker of internal politics.
“Algerian foreign policy is “fundamentally shaped by internal political dynamics,” Algerian Dr. Academic Ganem explained to Euroneuz.
Professor McDorgle repeated this point, believing that this would shake up both ways. “Whenever it’s in the political interests of either country within its domestic political interests, they give the other country a kick,” he said.
However, a former French diplomat took responsibility for Algerian President Abdelmazid Tebuunu, claiming he was trying to ignite his rage in the diaspora.
“Tebborn wants to have a highly nationalist Algerian population.
“Remember that he knows that Algeria is part of French politics, as the Fourth Republic (of France) fell in the Algerian War. And today he says that France is the lever of his politics.”
The Prime Minister of Algeria has not expressly expressed these objectives.
In a sign of how toxic the debate has become, the former senior official added that they had spoken to Euroneus under conditions of anonymity due to serious safety concerns.
Fall anatomy
Today’s icy relationship is far from the late 2010s, when winds of change appeared to be picking up on both sides of the Mediterranean.
On the trajectory of the 2017 presidential election, a fresh “political outsider” named Emmanuel Macron spoke about the “crimes against humanity” committed by France in Algeria, pledging a new era of accountability and warm relations.
Two years later, millions of Algerians took them to the streets of Africa’s largest country and called for political change as part of the Hirak movement. A new president has been elected, who fought against two major political parties in his country.
However, progress did not continue. In Algeria, Dr. Ganem points out that the president has become increasingly authoritarian, especially about his “pretence and “stance” about the “regime’s unrelenting focus on the security of the country, its security and (the government) continuity.”
Beyond the waters, Macron began to denounce what he called “memorial rent,” or the politics of memory in 2021, by filling the gap in polls.
Macron’s Algerian Tebuune argued that “history should not be forged,” and returned the charges, adding that the French leader “has completely revived the old conflict.”
Reminiscence of the ambassador, Algiers temporarily closed airspace to French aircraft, including a “counter-terrorist operations” in the Sahel.
Now, combined with the latest spat, it appears that both sides have put themselves back into the corner. Tebbone is digging his heels, but another government in Paris collapses as the far right continues to surge in France.
The loudest voices call for escalation rather than reconciliation, including former diplomats who, despite the threat, did not etch their words.
“(Algiers) just understands power. So tapping on the back is useless at all… to let us know our friends.”
On the Algerian side, neither the government nor the population seems to be in a sense of compromise.
As Kamal Dawd, a well-known Algerian writer, recently observed, “Every time I see young Algerians, they hate France more than their parents who have overcome the pain of colonization.”