Algeria sends ambassador back to Paris

Algeria has sent its ambassador back to Paris after a short crisis with France, Opinion Today has reported. The North African state withdrew the ambassador on 8 February after France allowed journalist Amira Bouraoui into the country even though she was being pursued by the Algerian judiciary. According to the Algerians, the role of French diplomats in smuggling her out through Tunisia was a violation of Algerian sovereignty.

The government in Algiers believes that France is keen to maintain relations with Algeria so as not to lose the Algerian market and an interlocutor in the Sahel region, which is coming more under the influence of Russia and China. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told Al Jazeera two days ago that he spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday to confirm the return of the ambassador. The crisis, he added to the TV network, confirmed the fluctuation of bilateral relations.

French diplomats have worked hard to restore relations with Algeria, and may have made concessions and promises. Macron wants to be the French president who transforms relations with a strategic country like Algeria from “thorny” to “stable”.

Writing for Al-Shorouk, one political analyst said that relations between Algeria and France are so deep that they cannot be ruptured, even though the government in Algiers has diversified its partners in Europe and around the world. The French magazine Le Bouin said on Friday that one of the bases of French-Algerian relations is the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region.

READ: Algeria, France end diplomatic crisis, agree to increase cooperation