Algeria Summons French Ambassador Over Accusations of Interference
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Loading... - Arbi Mounir
- 16 Dec 2024
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Algeria's foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador, Stephane Romatet, to express its strong disapproval of what it perceives as efforts to destabilize the country. According to several Algerian media outlets, the ambassador was informed of the highest Algerian authorities' firm disapproval of the numerous French provocations and hostile acts.
The government-owned daily El Moudjahid reported that the Algerian officials made it clear that the origin of these malicious acts was the French DGSE intelligence service. The report alleged that the French spy services were seeking to recruit former terrorists to destabilize the North African country.
Le Soir d'Algerie reported that French diplomats and agents had organized a series of meetings with individuals who showed a declared and permanent hostility towards Algerian institutions. The heightened tensions between Algiers and Paris come at a time when French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal has been in detention for nearly a month in Algeria, accused of attacking territorial integrity.
According to Paris-based newspaper Le Monde, Sansal's arrest on November 16 in Algiers may be due to his statements on a far-right French media outlet, where he repeated Morocco's claims that its territory had been truncated in favor of Algeria under French colonial rule. Algeria has historically supported the region's Polisario separatist movement, which seeks independence for Western Sahara.
The current tensions between Algeria and France are not new. Algeria had already withdrawn its ambassador to France over the summer after the French government supported a Moroccan plan for the Western Sahara that allows the contested region some autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. The latest development has further strained the relationship between the two countries, with Algeria accusing France of interfering in its internal affairs.
The situation highlights the complex and sensitive nature of the relationship between Algeria and France, which has been marked by historical tensions and competing interests in the region. The accusations of interference and the detention of Boualem Sansal have added to the tensions, and it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold in the coming days.
