#algeria Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra on Wednesday welcomed France’s statements to “show respect” to a country amid a diplomatic crisis and announced that Algiers would attend a conference on Libya in Paris on Friday.
Algiers’ anger was fueled after Macron’s remarks were reported on 2 October by the daily Le Monde, which called on the Algerian “political-military” system to maintain “commemorative fare” by serving “official history” to its people. According to the daily, he questioned the existence of an Algerian nation prior to French colonization.
“Unlike the declarations on the origin of the crisis, they (made on Tuesday by the Elysee Palace) are justified and contain views showing respect for Algeria, its history, its past, its present and Algerian sovereignty,” Lamamara told reporters. .
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He further announced that “Algeria” would participate in the International Conference on Libya, “but not at the level of the President of the Republic”, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
“The conditions for personally participating in this conference have not been met, despite Algeria’s active role with the Libyan brothers, as well as their attachment to the expected peaceful and democratic solution to the Libyan question”, a meeting After the minister said the heads of the Algerian diplomatic and consular missions in Algiers.
On 3 October, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to France in protest of statements reported by Le Monde and banned overflight of its territory for French military aircraft serving the Sahel, where anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane was carried out. Soldiers were deployed.
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“President Macron has the greatest respect for the Algerian nation, its history and the sovereignty of Algeria,” Elysee said on Tuesday. And he wants bilateral relations to “develop for the benefit of the Algerian and French populations, but also respond to major regional challenges, starting with Libya”.
According to Elysee, Tebboune was invited to the conference with the aim of helping Libya recover from the crisis by preparing for the presidential election to be held on 24 December.
According to Algerian media, Lamamara will represent Algeria at the conference. This will be the first visit to Paris for an Algerian official of this rank since the ambassador’s recall to Paris.
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Tebboune warned on Saturday that he would not take the “first step” to defuse tensions with his French counterpart, who, with his words, has “reopened an old conflict in a completely unnecessary way”.
“Why did he say that? I think it was for strategic election reasons,” Tebboune added in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel.