ALGIERS: Algeria on Thursday pushed back against President Emmanuel Macron’s call for Paris to get tougher with its former colony, saying France was seeking to “exonerate” itself from any blame as their standoff drags on.
Tensions between Paris and Algiers have reached new levels in recent months, with Macron’s hopes of the historic post-colonial reconciliation that he espoused at the start of his presidency now appearing a distant dream.
“France must be strong and command respect,” Macron said in a letter to his Prime Minister Francois Bayrou published by the daily newspaper Le Figaro online late Wednesday.
“It can only obtain this from its partners if it itself shows them the respect it demands. This basic rule also applies to Algeria,” the letter said.
The Algerian foreign ministry said Macron’s remarks sought to “exonerate France from all its responsibilities” as relations between the two countries continue to fray, accusing Paris of putting “all the blame on the Algerian side.”
Among the measures Macron requested from his government in his letter was the “formal” suspension of a 2013 agreement with Algiers “concerning visa exemptions for official and diplomatic passports.”
Algiers said that “France, and France alone” had pushed for that agreement.
The Algerian government later said it was ending rent-free arrangements for France’s diplomatic mission in the North African country.
According to state news agency APS, the move would affect 61 location, some of which had been leased to France for token sums.
Macron in his letter also asked his government to “immediately” use a provision in a 2024 immigration law, which allows the refusal of short-stay visas to holders of service and diplomatic passports, as well as long-stay visas to all applicants.
To prevent Algerian diplomats from being able to travel to France via a third country, France will ask its EU partners in the Schengen free travel space to cooperate.
A major bone of contention has been Algeria’s imprisonment of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and prominent French football journalist Christophe Gleizes.
Paris has also accused pro-Algiers influencers of inciting hatred inside France.
Macron pointed in the letter to the cases of Sansal, sentenced to five years in prison for “undermining national unity”, and Gleizes, sentenced to seven years for “apology for terrorism.”
Supporters of both men say they are entirely innocent and victims of the current political tensions.
Macron insisted that his “objective remains to restore effective and ambitious relations with Algeria.”
Macron angered Algiers in July last year when he backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Atrocities committed by both sides during the 1954-1962 Algerian war of independence have long strained relations, even half a century later.
Upping tensions further, Algerian consulates in France have suspended cooperation with French government services on returning Algerians deemed dangerous back to Algeria after being ordered to leave by Paris.
The French government fears that it will have to release Algerian nationals currently detained in detention centres due to the inability to keep them there indefinitely. — AFP
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
