The Algerian ambassador returns to Paris, a sign of appeasement with France

The Algerian ambassador to France, who was recalled in October “for consultations” after statements by French President Emmanuel Macron deemed offensive by Algiers, will resume his duties on Thursday, the Algerian presidency announced on Wednesday.

End of the diplomatic crisis?

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune “received on Wednesday the Algerian ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar-Daoud, who will resume his duties in Paris from this Thursday, January 6, 2022,” the presidency said in a statement.

Algiers recalled its ambassador on October 2 in reaction to comments relayed by the newspaper The world of French President Emmanuel Macron who affirmed that Algeria, after its independence in 1962, was built on “a memorial rent”, maintained by “the politico-military system”. Emmanuel Macron also asked the question of the existence of an Algerian nation before French colonization from 1830.

Algiers had also, in protest, banned the overflight of its territory to French military planes serving the Sahel, where the troops of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane are deployed. The Algerian head of state had also warned in early November that he would not take “the first step” to try to calm tensions.

Emmanuel Macron has since expressed his “regrets” at the controversy generated and said he was “strongly attached to the development” of the bilateral relationship.

Le Drian in Algeria

At the beginning of December, the head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a visit to Algeria in order to defuse this bilateral crisis of rare gravity. The French minister then called for a “peaceful relationship” so that the two countries “can look to the future”.

However, no agreement was obtained during this visit for, for example, the resumption of the overflight of Algerian airspace.

Relations between Paris and Algiers have often known turbulence. The last such serious crisis dated from February 23, 2005, when the French Parliament adopted a law recognizing a “positive role of colonization”.

“Resumption in stages”

According to Hasni Abidi, director of the Cermam research center in Geneva, “the back-pedaling of Mr. Macron” then the visit of Jean-Yves Le Drian were “well received in Algiers and interpreted as a gesture of goodwill by the French authorities”.

With the return of the Algerian ambassador to Paris, “the crisis is behind us” since there is “a will on the part of Algiers but especially of Paris, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Evian agreements (for a cease-fire, signed in March 1962), to overcome their differences and build a new relationship based on respect, ”Hasni Abidi told AFP.