Algeria Summons French Ambassador Over Accusations Of Interference

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the G7 Summit in Savelletri, near Bari, Italy, on June 14, 2024 (Algerian Presidency)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the G7 Summit in Savelletri, near Bari, Italy, on June 14, 2024 (Algerian Presidency)
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Algeria Summons French Ambassador Over Accusations Of Interference

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the G7 Summit in Savelletri, near Bari, Italy, on June 14, 2024 (Algerian Presidency)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the G7 Summit in Savelletri, near Bari, Italy, on June 14, 2024 (Algerian Presidency)

Algeria's foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador to reprimand him for what it said were efforts to destabilize the country, several Algerian media outlets reported on Sunday.

The ambassador, Stephane Romatet, was "informed of the firm disapproval of the highest Algerian authorities in the face of the numerous French provocations and hostile acts," the government-owned daily El Moudjahid reported.

According to Le Soir d'Algerie, the Algerian officials "made a point of clearly identifying the origin of these malicious acts, the French DGSE" intelligence service, AFP reported.

El Moudjahid said the French spy services were seeking to recruit "former terrorists" to "destabilize" the North African country.

Le Soir d'Algerie said French diplomats and agents had organized a series of meetings with people showing a "declared and permanent hostility towards Algerian institutions".

The heightened tensions between Algiers and Paris come while French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal has been in detention for nearly a month in Algeria, accused of "attacking territorial integrity".

According to Paris-based newspaper Le Monde, his November 16 arrest in Algiers could be due to his statements on a far-right French media outlet where he repeated Morocco's claims that its territory had been truncated in favor of Algeria under French colonial rule.

Algeria had already withdrawn its ambassador to France over the summer after the French government supported a Moroccan plan for the Western Sahara that allows the contested region some autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

Algeria has historically supported the region's Polisario separatist movement.



Four Dead, 13 Injured in Algeria Landslide

Algerian capital (file photo/Reuters)
Algerian capital (file photo/Reuters)
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Four Dead, 13 Injured in Algeria Landslide

Algerian capital (file photo/Reuters)
Algerian capital (file photo/Reuters)

Four people have died and 13 others injured in a landslide in Algeria's western coastal city of Oran, authorities said on Sunday.

The landslide occurred late Saturday in the city's Hai Essanouber district, the civil defencs agency said, AFP reported.

It said the four "deceased were between five and 43 years old", and that "13 other victims, aged between 12 and 75, suffered various injuries".

Authorities did not comment on the reasons behind the landslide, which the interior ministry said "caused the collapse of five tin houses".

With no one still missing from the landslide, the ministry said the death toll was "final".