Algeria's political mobilisation against Macron intensifies tensions with France

Algerian officials and political institutions have launched a strong attack on French President Emmanuel Macron following his recent statements on what he called ‘the abuse by Algeria’ against writer Boualem Sansal, arrested for ‘attacks against state security’. 


The Algerian parliament and political parties loyal to the authorities issued harsh criticism of Macron, while Algerian Communication Minister Mohamed Meziane also added his voice to the condemnations, calling France ‘ungrateful’.


Meziane also took the opportunity to slam Paris for its colonial past in Algeria, asserting that ‘there is a difference between the French people, whom we consider friends, and the French Republic, which we respect, on the one hand, and the French colonial authorities who occupied Algeria in an unjust and aggressive manner, on the other’.

For its part, Algeria's foreign ministry called Macron's recent statements during the annual conference of French ambassadors ‘falsehood and slander’, further aggravating the crisis that has persisted between the two countries since last summer.


‘The Algerian government has received with great astonishment the French president's statements on Algeria, which offend, above all, those who consider it inappropriate to have made them in such a light and irresponsible manner,’ the ministry said in a statement in which it also stresses that ’these statements can only be denounced and rejected, as they constitute an unacceptable interference in Algeria's internal affairs.’


‘What the French president falsely presents as an issue related to freedom of expression is not. In reality, it is an attempt to compromise the territorial integrity of the country, which is an offence punishable under Algerian law,’ he added. 


In his speech, Macron urged Algeria to release the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal - detained in Algeria since mid-November - and described his arrest as ‘arbitrary’. 

He described Sansal as a ‘freedom fighter’ and accused the Algerian authorities of preventing him from receiving treatment. He called on the French to fight alongside those who defend freedom, be they writers, academics or imprisoned journalists, regardless of their beliefs or interests, stressing that freedom is the essence of democracy and must be defended. 


Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had also raised his tone towards Paris in an address to the nation before members of parliament in which he stated that ‘France sent a thief, whose identity and paternity are unknown, to say that half of Algeria belongs to another country’. This statement sparked a strong controversy in political and media circles, prompting Algeria's official and private media, including those of the presidency, to remove the clip of the speech from their websites and channels. This was because the phrase was an improvisation that was not contemplated in the original text of the speech, Al-Arab reveals. 


In the same vein as the foreign ministry, the office of the National People's Assembly, the lower house of the Algerian parliament, strongly condemned the French president's statements, calling them ‘irresponsible’ and considering them ‘a flagrant interference in Algeria's internal affairs, as well as an attack on its sovereignty and dignity in relation to an issue that is being examined under Algerian law’. 

The communiqué also stressed that this affair constitutes ‘an attempt to distort the image of Algeria and its sovereign institutions’, underlining that Algeria, ‘which suffered the most horrendous violations during French colonisation, categorically rejects any external interference or attempt to be lectured on human rights and freedoms’.


Political parties loyal to the authorities also immediately responded to the French president. The National Democratic Rally claimed that Macron's statements constituted ‘a flagrant and unacceptable interference in Algeria's internal affairs, and a desperate attempt to influence Algeria's independent judicial institution’.

Likewise, according to the political formation, ‘these statements reflect the deep internal crisis that France is going through and its attempt to export it to Algeria, seeking to distract French public opinion’.


As for the National Liberation Front, it issued a statement in which it affirmed that ‘the Sansal case is a judicial matter that is being dealt with in accordance with Algerian law’, describing Macron's statements as ‘stupidity and a miserable attempt to distort the image of Algeria and its sovereign institutions’.


For its part, the Front of Socialist Forces described Macron's statements as ‘repugnant’. It also accused the French president of making France ‘a hostage of extremist movements hostile to Algeria, characterised by their racism and Islamophobia’.