The turbulent relationship between France and its former colony Algeria has hit an all-time low, with the two countries accusing one another of humiliation and wilfully inflaming tensions. RFI examines what’s behind the breakdown in relations, and how they could get back on track.
Algeria and France have a fraught history, marked by colonial rule and an eight-year war that led to Algerian independence in 1962.
Visiting Algeria in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron said the two countries “have a complex, painful common past [that] has at times prevented us from looking at the future". Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described the visit as “promising” and “constructive”.
This visit marked one of the high points of the relationship in recent years, with Macron announcing the two governments would set up a joint committee of historians to study the archives of the colonial period.
But while long-established economic, security and cultural ties have allowed the two countries to weather many a storm, the last six months have seen major turbulence – which France's former foreign minister, and prime minister, Dominique de Villepin described as the “worst crisis between the two countries since the war”.
It began in July when France sided with Morocco over Algeria over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Outraged, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to France in protest.
In November, Algerian authorities arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal – who is openly critical of Algiers – on national security charges. France has said the continued refusal to release him has "dishonoured" Algeria.
Relations again plummeted in January, when Algeria refused to take back an Algerian influencer deported from France, accused of inciting violence on social media.
“Nothing gives Algeria the right to offend France,” said hardline Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau this week in an interview with French newspaper L'Express, reiterating claims that Algiers had sought to “humiliate” France.
Algeria denies escalation or humiliation and said France’s remarks were “dishonourable”.
Algeria's Tebboune refuses France visit in snub to former colonial ruler
Domestic agendas
This talk of humiliation is largely "a game of ping-pong," said Akram Belkaïd, chief editor of the Le Monde Diplomatique monthly newspaper. "It's a game to see who can annoy the other the most. You wonder to what extent the crisis isn't being instrumentalised for the purposes of both French and Algerian domestic policies," he told RFI.
Both countries have their domestic headaches too. Tebboune was re-elected last year with more than 84 percent of the vote in elections that his opponents said were fraudulent.
Meanwhile France's fragile government is struggling to keep the far-right National Rally – now the biggest single party in parliament with 124 of the 577 seats – on side.
“Bilateral relations are polluted by internal affairs and by internal political debates," said Adlene Mohammedi, a researcher and lecturer on the Arab world. "In Algeria, you have a lack of democratic legitimacy and the Algerian regime is using this anti-French classic rhetoric to try to divert from the main problem of democracy. The internal French debate is polluting bilateral relations too."
Mohammedi considers the interior minister to be on the far right, with the same ideological positions as the National Rally, particularly in terms of the party's anti-immigration stance.
Listen to a conversation with Adlene Mohammedi in the Spotlight On France podcast, episode 133
France retaliates
France has vowed to put relations "back on track" but is taking a tough stance. Proposed measures include suspending development, reducing visas and curbing freedom of movement for Algerian officials travelling to France.
The French interior minister is also pushing for the repeal of a 1968 bilateral agreement which gave Algerians coming to France special settlement and employment rights, following independence.
"The 1968 accords appear outdated and unbalanced...they've deformed Algerian immigration," Retailleau said, insisting family settlement had taken over from the agreement's original purpose of facilitating employment.
Mohammedi says such a measure would be very difficult to implement since it's "basically an international treaty" so would require renegotiation. But the tough talk, he says, is designed to appeal to the hard right.
"They give the impression that because of this treaty, Algerian people in France are privileged, spoilt brats, which is certainly not the case."
While he admits the current economic situation in France has changed since 1968, when the country needed cheap labour from Algeria, he contests the idea that Algerians are getting an easy ride.
"The general framework for foreigners in France is more advantageous than this treaty. If you are Mexican, Tunisian or Moroccan, you have the right to a multi-year residence permit, but the treaty means Algerians [do not]."
In addition, since 1986 Algerians need a visa to enter France, which, he says, many struggle to obtain. "So most of the time now, this treaty is much more of a problem than a privilege."
France and Algeria revisit painful past in battle to mend colonial wounds
Getting back on track
France's Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said on Tuesday that France and Algeria had to "re-establish relations", and Retailleau acknowledged there was "clearly a need to continue to work together against the threat of Islamist terrorism".
The head of France's intelligence services recently made a discreet visit to Algiers, suggesting the permafrost may be thawing slightly.
"It's a sign of pragmatism between the two parties," said Belkaïd, who is also a columnist with the Quotidien d'Oran daily newspaper. "Given current events, the secret services need to talk to one another".
He cited "disorder" in the Middle East, notably in Syria following the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad by Islamist Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
"The current situation in Syria is very uncertain and the new regime could decide to release [several dozen French-Algerian] detainees," he told RFI. "So there's a need for the Algerian and French authorities to continue to look at this closely."
And then there's the question of France's large Algerian diaspora, of around 2 million people. "There's a constant flow of people, despite the issue of visas," Belkaid noted. "A number of French small businesses realise a significant part of their turnover in Algeria.
"So the breakdown of diplomatic relations would really harm tens of thousands of people forced to stand by, powerless, and watch this decline."
Algeria says envoy will only return if France shows ‘total respect'
Breakdown in diplomacy
For Belkaid, the roots of the current crisis predate the Western Sahara issue and reflect 20 years of "incapacity of Algiers and Paris to think about the 21st century together and to imagine what Franco-Algerian relations could be".
A real strategy is needed, he said, and "not just memorial ornaments, discussion on memory, the war in Algeria".
Efficient, high-level diplomacy is needed now more than ever, but France has cut its diplomatic corps in half over the last 30 years, and the interior minister is holding forth on issues that would ordinarily fall to the foreign office.
Diplomacy in France is "weakened," said Mohammedi, partly due to its inconsistency. He gave the example of political prisoners. While France is demanding the release of Sansal, who it deems a political prisoner, three years ago when Algeria and France enjoyed good relations, the issue of Algeria's numerous political prisoners was not publicly raised.
Belkaid regrets the loss of "consensual figures on both sides of the Mediterranean," meaning all the work behind the scenes "has been eroded".
"The institutional Franco-Algerian relationship is now characterised by an unbelievable void, because the two parties have not thought about how they could fill it," he said.
Regardless of the issue of Western Sahara, which continues to cast a shadow, he insists that as long as the two countries are unable to find a way of redefining their relationship "we will continue to have repeated crises between Paris and Algiers".
