Macron's leaked insults raise tensions in meeting with Tebboune
Algeria's position, in part due to its alliances with the Russian-Iranian bloc, has prompted Tebboune's government to change its communication strategy. The visit is a reflection of Algeria's new diplomatic strategy, which focuses on strengthening alliances with nations with which it has 'cordial' political ties and using the nation's economic resources to gain more political and strategic influence. In particular, his views on Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune, which were reflected in a recent leak describing him as "naïve" and "indecisive" and Algeria as a "Russian junk market". This could affect the atmosphere in which Tebboune's visit to Paris is taking place and even lead to its cancellation.
In the leaked recording Emmanuel Macron refers to Tebboune as "naïve" and "incapable of making decisions", hinting at the military institution's real control over the country's affairs behind the scenes. He also compares the North African nation to a "Russian junk market" in reference to its dependence on armaments. At the same time, the French president urged Europeans to treat the Algerian regime with wisdom and respect because it is a major supplier of oil and gas to the continent. "If Morocco intended to harm Algeria, it would have devoured it in record circumstance, but its other priorities that matter to it distract it from that" and that "if this talk came to light, the situation would have exploded", the leaked audios conclude.
The Algerian government is making an impressive effort to include France in discussions about the crimes taking place in Western Sahara and the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front - a separatist movement supported financially and militarily by Algeria - on the agenda of Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune's upcoming state visit to France.
The Algerian authorities are interested in holding these discussions as part of their bilateral dialogue with France through diplomatic channels on the main regional geopolitical issues whose development is of interest to both France and Algeria. Abdelmajid Tebboune will be accompanied by the head of Algerian diplomacy, Ahmed Attaf, during his visit to France. The Algerian regime has declared that its objective at this stage is to convene an official meeting between Algerian and French diplomats to discuss the future of Western Sahara.
According to information available to Al-Arab, high-ranking Algerian officials are using this tactic to pressure France to recognise that Western Sahara is a source of unrest that threatens the stability of the Maghreb region. However, according to intelligence sources in the Maghreb region, France is not at all in favour of including the Western Sahara issue on the agenda of Tebboune's visit to Paris. The French authorities consider that this issue has no place on the agenda of a state visit by an Algerian president whose first and only objective is to advance bilateral relations with France.
A leaked audio of the French president, the veracity of which has not been established, reveals negative impressions and harsh criticism of Algeria, bordering on insults. Algerian activists in the French capital learned from local authorities that they would not be able to organise a weekly public protest at the Place de la République in Paris. This is completely at odds with France's claims that it would guarantee Algiers a suitable environment for Tebboune's visit to Paris after the country's citizens were allowed to resume their weekly popular protests at the Place de la République. All this despite French opposition and the media noise it generates.
As reported in Al-Arab, Othman Tazmir, an opposition political activist, said in a statement that "the decision to ban the protests in the Place de la République is a political decision that carries a message of collusion between the two political regimes in Paris and Algiers, and is an indication of the beginning of restriction and repression by the French authorities of the forces of the opposition movement".
This decision comes as a surprise to them because they have been holding weekly vigils against the Algerian government since 2019 without causing any problems for the administrative or security authorities. The management of Channel 22, which broadcasts from Paris and addresses the Algerian public, received at the same time a communication from the television station, blocking its transmission on the "Eutelsat" satellite because of interference concentrated on the frequency, which was disturbing the other channels present on it.
