The Algerian upper house of parliament has suspended relations with its French counterpart, the Senate, following a visit to Western Sahara by its Speaker, a territory that France recognises as part of Morocco. However, Algeria maintains that the region should remain sovereign, a disagreement that has heightened tensions between Paris and Algiers in recent months.
Algeria’s Council of the Nation said Wednesday it decided to “immediately” suspend all ties with the French Senate, including a parliamentary cooperation protocol signed between the two chambers in 2015.
The council was reacting a visit to Western Sahara by French Senate speaker Gérard Larcher on Monday. The Algerian council described the visit as “irresponsible, provocative and ostentatious”.
Tensions over Western Sahara
Last year Algeria recalled its ambassador to Paris after France recognised Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara. Algeria backs the Polisario Front that is seeking an independent state.
The council said it was surprised by France’s decision to allow Larcher’s visit, as it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, which is “supposed to defend the right of self-determination of colonised people, rather than trying to cancel and deny them”.
The UN recognises neither Morocco’s nor the Polisario Front’s claims on Western Sahara, which Morocco took over in a 1975 agreement with Spain and Mauritania.
Immigration accord
The suspension of relations between the legislative bodies is another sign of the increased tension between France and Algeria.
On Wednesday French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said France would review the 1968 Franco-Algerian pact, which exempts Algerians from some French immigration laws, making it easier for them to move to France, unless Algeria agrees to take back its citizens who have been deported by French authorities.
This comes after an Algerian citizen whom France had long tried, unsuccessfully, to send back to Algeria, killed a person and injured three in a knife attack in the city of Mulhouse on Saturday.
Bayrou told reporters that Algeria's refusal to take back its citizens was "a direct attack on the agreements we have with the Algerian authorities and we will not accept it", adding that his government would spend four to six weeks reviewing Algiers' implementation of the 1968 pact.
(with AFP)
