By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 12 agents serving in the Algerian consular and diplomatic network in France will be expelled, while France will recall its ambassador to Algiers, the capital of Algeria, for consultations, the French presidency announced in a statement on Tuesday.
It accused Algerian authorities of being responsible for “a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations”.
Earlier, Algeria had given 12 French embassy staff a 48-hour ultimatum to leave the country, according to France’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Barrot, however, urged Algeria to “abandon” the planned expulsion of its nationals, warning that France was prepared to “respond immediately” if its citizens were expelled.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Barrot said that Algeria’s decision was “unjustified” and that dialogue “cannot go one way”.
The decision by Algerian authorities to expel the French officials was in protest against France’s indictment of three Algerians on Sunday, including a consular official, on suspicion that they were involved in the abduction of Algerian opposition activist Amir Boukhors in 2024 in a Paris suburb.
The men, who are also being prosecuted for “terrorist” conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.
Boukhors, an influencer known by the nickname “Amir DZ”, has more than a million followers on TikTok.
Algeria accused Boukhors of being “a saboteur linked to terrorist groups”.
He had reportedly been “the subject of two serious attacks, one in 2022 and another on the evening of 29 April 2024″, his lawyer Eric Plouvier said.
The Algerian foreign affairs ministry said the arrest of the consular official aimed to “humiliate Algeria, with no consideration for the consular status of this agent, disregarding all diplomatic customs and practices, and in flagrant violation of the relevant conventions and treaties”.
France later said Algeria had expelled 12 of its diplomatic staff, an action it vowed to retaliate against.
Algeria recalled its ambassador from Paris last year after French President Emmanuel Macron backed Morocco’s claim to ownership of the disputed Western Sahara territory.
