Tensions are rising between Paris and Algiers. The current diplomatic crisis, described by analysts as the most serious since Algeria’s independence in 1962, raises the risk of a rupture in bilateral relations between France and its former North African colony.

The current quarrel was triggered in July 2024 by French President Emmanuel Macron’s support for Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The resource-rich territory, considered by the UN as “non-autonomous”, is controlled for the most part by Morocco but claimed by the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement supported by Algeria.

The move infuriated Algiers, which announced the “withdrawal with immediate effect” of its ambassador to France.

Relations have deteriorated ever since, first with the incarceration of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers in mid-November, who was accused of having undermined the integrity of Algerian territory in statements made to a far-right media outlet in France.