Emmanuel Macron sends a signal of appeasement on the side of Algiers. After weeks of escalations and tensions with Algeria, the President of the Republic “Regrets the controversies and misunderstandings generated by the comments reported” and means his “Greater respect for the Algerian nation, for its history and for the sovereignty of Algeria”, reported the Elysee, Tuesday, November 9. “He is strongly attached to the development of the relationship” between France and Algeria, said an adviser to the head of state, during a press briefing devoted to the conference on Libya, to be held in Paris on Friday.
Mr. Macron had aroused the anger of Algiers after the publication of remarks reported in an article in the World dated October 2, where he blamed the system “Politico-military” Algerian to maintain a “Memorial rent” by serving his people a “Official story” who “Not based on truths”. During the meeting of the Head of State with eighteen young people from families who had intimately experienced the Algerian war, to which The world attended, the President of the Republic also affirmed that “The construction of Algeria as a nation is a phenomenon to watch. Was there an Algerian nation before French colonization? That is the question (…) “.
Strategic stake in Libya
These remarks fueled the ire of the Algerian state, against a backdrop of already existing tensions around the decline in the granting of visas by France to Algerian nationals. On Saturday November 6, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had also warned that he would not ” the first step “ to try to calm relations with his French counterpart who, with his words, “Reopened an old conflict in a totally unnecessary way”, he had specified. “Why did he say that?” I think it was for strategic electoral reasons ”, added Mr. Tebboune, in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel.
After a first attempt at appeasement launched in early October by Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee therefore said Tuesday that it wanted the bilateral relationship of the two countries to calm down and develop, specifying that this would be done “For the benefit of the Algerian and French populations but also to respond to major regional challenges, starting with Libya”.
The Elysee Palace stressed that Abdelmadjid Tebboune was invited to Friday’s conference organized in Paris to help the Libyan state stabilize itself, in particular by preparing the country’s presidential election scheduled for December 24. According to this Elyos adviser, “Algeria is a major player in the region and the president wants President Tebboune to participate in this conference.”