Tensions are rising between Paris and Algiers. The current diplomatic crisis, described by analysts as the most serious since Algeria’s independence in 1962, raises the risk of a rupture in bilateral relations between France and its former North African colony.
The current quarrel was triggered in July 2024 by French President Emmanuel Macron‘s support for Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara. The resource-rich territory, considered by the UN as “non-autonomous”, is controlled for the most part by Morocco but claimed by the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement supported by Algeria. The move infuriated Algiers, which announced the “withdrawal with immediate effect” of its ambassador to France.
Relations have deteriorated ever since, first with the incarceration of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers in mid-November, who was accused of having undermined the integrity of Algerian territory in statements made to a far-right media outlet in France.
This was followed by the January arrests of Algerian influencers in France accused of calling for violence, and compounded by Algiers blocking the deportation of its nationals from France.
In early March, the situation worsened after a knife attack, which injured three police officers and cost the life of a passerby in Mulhouse in eastern France, by an Algerian whom the French authorities had tried to deport back to his country 14 times in vain.
Following the attack, French Prime Minister François Bayrou set an ultimatum. He gave Algiers “one month to six weeks” to accept the readmission of its nationals staying illegally in France who had been handed deportation orders. Otherwise, the head of government threatened, Algeria would expose itself to “a graduated response”.
This could range from the calling into question of visa-free travel for Algerian diplomats to the termination of the 1968 bilateral agreement which grants, according to Paris, “considerable advantages” to Algerians in terms of entry and residence in France.
‘Back to the time of the colonies’
France also accuses Algeria of blacklisting French companies bidding for public contracts, replacing French with English in primary education, reintroducing a stanza that calls out France by name in its national anthem and blocking cooperation in matters of security.
At the helm of the recent escalation is French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who advocates for a very firm approach to the fight against immigration. Since taking office in September, he has made numerous hostile statements against Algeria as well as calls to toughen the “balance of power” on issues that divide the two countries.
