Wednesday, January 05, 2022
Macron’s comment provoked a crisis
France and Algeria solve the problem
Algerian President Debon has been angered by French President Macron’s announcement that he will withdraw his ambassador from France. Three months later, the two politicians seem to have overcome the diplomatic crisis. Algerian ambassador returns to Paris
The serious diplomatic crisis between Algeria and France seems to have been resolved three months later. The Office of the Algerian President announced the return of Algerian Ambassador Mohamed Under-Dawood to Paris on Thursday. Algiers’ ambassador was recalled on October 2 after Algerian President Abdel Majid Debon was angered by reports from his French colleague Emmanuel Macron.
DePhone received the ambassador on Wednesday to announce the resumption of his duties. The reason for the controversy with Macron was the statements of the French head of state. According to the daily newspaper Le Monde, he implicitly said that Algeria had been resting in memory since independence in 1962 and that the country was ruled by a “political-military system”. He also raised the question of whether the North African nation existed as a nation before the French colonial period.
As a result, Algiers not only fired the ambassador but also suspended the rights of French military jets over the Sahel region. In early November, DePhone said it was not going to take a “first step” to defuse tensions. He considered Macron to have “unnecessarily” revived an “old conflict”.
On November 9, Macron announced through an adviser that he regretted the “discussions” and “misunderstandings”. He has “the greatest respect for the Algerian nation” and “its history”. In early December, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian traveled to Algeria. He supported the “peaceful relationship” and demanded that the two countries focus on the future. The deal to restart flights of French jets via Algerian airspace has not been finalized.
