Algeria demands 'total respect' for envoy's return to Paris

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has affirmed that the return of the the country's Ambassador to France could be conditional on "total respect" from Paris to the North African nation.

In an interview aired live on the local media, Tebboune said: "We can't act like nothing happened... And our ambassador will return to Paris only when France shows total respect for the Algerian state," reports Xinhua news agency

Tebboune's statements refer to Algeria's recalling of its ambassador to Paris and banning French military planes from its airspace, following statements of French President Emmanuel Macron last week in which he criticised the Algerian regime.

Macron made the remarks during a short dialogue with a group of young people whose parents or grandparents fought with the French army against Algerian revolutionists during the Algerian War (1954-1962).


Macron reportedly said the country was ruled by a "political-military system" and described Algeria as having an "official history" which had been "totally re-written", according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

This new round of tensions between Paris and Algiers was also provoked by a French decision in September to reduce the number of visas provided to Algerian officials by 50 per cent.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry demanded explanations from the French Ambassador to Algiers - IANS