Diplomatic relations between France and Algeria have never been worse since 1962. France, on Tuesday, April 15, recalled its ambassador to Algiers for consultations and ordered the expulsion of 12 Algerian diplomats, in response to a similar measure taken by Algeria the previous day against 12 embassy officials who were ordered to leave the Algerian territory.
The series of expulsions stemmed from the arrest by French police of an employee of the Algerian consulate in a Paris suburb on April 11, as part of an investigation into the kidnapping of an anti-regime influencer. These events are the latest episode in a highly degraded diplomatic relationship between France and Algeria since the summer of 2024, centered around three key issues.
The Western Sahara issue
July 30, 2024, marked the beginning of recent tensions between France and Algeria. In a letter addressed to King of Morocco Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that "the present and the future of Western Sahara [were] part of Moroccan sovereignty."
Without explicitly recognizing the "Moroccan-ness" of the territory, which is 80% occupied by Morocco, the French president deemed that the autonomy plan submitted by the kingdom to the United Nations in 2007 to affirm its sovereignty over Western Sahara was the "only basis for achieving a just, lasting, and negotiated political solution in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions." Except that the UN has been advocating for a self-determination referendum since 1991 and for the signature of a ceasefire that has yet to materialize.
France's pro-Moroccan stance was unprecedented. Until then, Paris had considered this plan a "serious and credible discussion base" and had always refrained from explicitly mentioning "Moroccan sovereignty" in the matter. The change in position was perceived as an affront in Algeria, which supports the pro-independence Sahrawi movement, the Polisario Front, which claims the territory. "This step, which no previous French government had taken, the current government did with much lightness and great carelessness, without lucidly measuring all the potential consequences," said the Algerian foreign ministry in a statement. Algiers then decided to "withdraw" its ambassador stationed in Paris.
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