France-Algeria: Paris ripostes after the expulsion of its diplomats

Kinshasa , May 14^th, 2025(CPA) .- The French Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, has announced on Wednesday that France will in turn expel Algerian diplomats in response to the expulsion by Algiers of French diplomats, international media have reported. « Our response is immediate, it is firm and it is strictly proportionate at this stage, with the same request, i.e. the return to Algeria of all agents holding diplomatic passports who do not currently have a visa« , has declared Jean-Noël Barrot. « The Algerians have wanted to send back our agents. We are sending theirs back », he has added. According to the same source, France has summoned the Algerian project manager in Paris to denounce Algiers’ « unjustified and unjustifiable » decision to expel French officials from Algeria. “We have also informed him that we reserve the right to take other measures depending on how the situation develops« , he has indicated.  Jean-Noël Barrot has pointed out that the expulsion of the French officials was based on a unilateral decision by the Algerian authorities to establish new conditions of access to Algerian territory for French public officials holding official, diplomatic or service passports, in violation of the 2013 bilateral agreement. He has also deplored these decisions by the Algerian authorities, which contravene the agreements governing relations between the two countries and which are clearly not in the interests of France, but not in the interests of Algerians either. As a reminder, Algeria had summoned the project manager of the French embassy in Algiers to notify him of further expulsions of French civil servants from Algerian territory who were on a temporary reinforcement mission, in a new episode in the deep diplomatic crisis between the two countries. The Minister had indicated that relations between France and Algeria remained « totally frozen » since the expulsion in mid-April of twelve French civil servants by Algiers and a similar retaliatory measure by Paris.  ACP/