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The Algerian Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned the acting head of the French embassy to protest an investigation broadcast by a public television channel about deteriorating relations between the two countries.
In a statement, the ministry said the summons came “following the broadcast by the public channel France 2 of what is falsely and maliciously presented as a documentary film, when in reality it is nothing more than a web of lies and fabrications that contain profound insults and unjustified provocations.”
The Algerian Foreign Ministry also denounced the participation of Ambassador Stephane Romatet, who is running the embassy from Paris after leaving Algeria at the request of President Emmanuel Macron amid an ongoing crisis since the summer of 2024.
It said the ambassador’s personal involvement in “driving this offensive campaign led by this public channel” would only reinforce the sense that the campaign had received endorsement from official French quarters.
The ministry said the government “strongly condemns” the program in question, adding that it “categorically rejects” the involvement of France’s ambassador to Algeria in actions that are “clearly incompatible with the exercise of his duties.”
According to clips shared by the program on Facebook, the French ambassador spoke about Macron’s decision in late July 2024 to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which was followed by Algeria’s decision to withdraw its ambassador from Paris.
He said the decision “did not come suddenly but was thought through and studied over several weeks, with its consequences taken into account for relations with both Morocco and Algeria.”
In the report, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris and a close associate of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said the decision “is what ended the relationship” between the Algerian president and his French counterpart.
Relations between the two countries have further deteriorated over issues such as the arrest in France of an Algerian consular employee accused of involvement in the abduction of prominent opposition activist Amir Boukhors. The case led to reciprocal expulsions of diplomatic staff.
Tensions were also fueled by the conviction and imprisonment of the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who was ultimately pardoned by Tebboune following German mediation.
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