Macron’s cabinet: the Algerian emissary returns to Paris, the dispute ends

PARIS — The Algerian ambassador to France, recalled in February, will resume his duties in the coming days, the office of President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday, a sign that the last diplomatic quarrel between the two countries is resolved.

Ambassador Said Moussi has been recalled after a well-known Algerian activist was flown to France from Tunisia on February 6 with the help of French diplomats, a move that defied an official request for her to be sent home. She. Amira Bouraoui is also of French nationality. She was not supposed to leave Algerian territory and authorities in Algiers said her flight to France amounted to “illegal exfiltration”.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune informed Macron in a phone call that the ambassador would soon return to Paris.

“This exchange has cleared up misunderstandings,” said Macron’s cabinet, adding that the two leaders had agreed to strengthen communication channels between the departments concerned to ensure “that this regrettable type of misunderstanding does not happen again.” .

Tebboune is expected to make a state visit to France, possibly in May, making the ambassador’s return and the resolution of the feud of particular importance.

Algeria and France have a long and delicate relationship, marked by 132 years of French colonial rule and a brutal seven-year war that ended with Algerian independence in 1962.

In 2021, Algeria’s then-ambassador Antar Daoud was called home for three months in another diplomatic spat – this time over Macron’s “irresponsible comments” regarding Algeria, according to -war.

Macron reportedly said that Algeria was rewriting its official history with a discourse based not on truths but on “a hatred of France”. The comments at the time, made during a meeting between the French president and descendants of people who fought in the Algerian war, were reported by the French newspaper Le Monde and relayed in the Algerian media.