Paris expels 12 Algerian officials positioned in France, recalls ambassador to Algiers

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said 12 Algerian diplomatic and consular officials were expelled on Tuesday in a tit-for-tat move amid diplomatic tensions, after Algeria on Sunday ordered 12 French officials from the interior ministry to leave the North African country within 48 hours.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday, April 15, decided to expel 12 Algerian consular and diplomatic officials and recalled the French ambassador in Algiers, the presidential office said, as a spat escalates between the two countries.

The 12 French officials declared persona non grata were “on their way to France,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said, adding that Algerian authorities had taken “responsibility for the sudden degradation of our bilateral relations.”

The office said it was “stunned” that relations had taken such a turn just two weeks after a phone call between Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Macron in a bid to repair ties.

Relations between Paris and Algiers came under strain last year when France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.

Relations soured further when Algeria arrested the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November on national security charges and sentenced him to five years in prison. His crime? He said in an interview with a French media outlet that Morocco’s territory was truncated in favor of Algeria during French colonial rule.

Algeria’s foreign ministry declared the 12 French officials persona non grata after French anti-terror prosecutors indicted three men in connection with the April 2024 kidnapping of Algerian dissident and influencer Amir Boukhors. The indicted individuals include an employee at the Algerian consulate in Créteil, who reportedly holds a service passport rather than a diplomatic one.

The three men were charged last Friday in Paris with kidnapping and unlawful detention in relation to a terrorist organization, as well as participation in a criminal terrorist conspiracy, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT). All three have been placed in pre-trial detention.

Amir Boukhors, a well-known critic of the Algerian regime, had previously survived two serious attacks, one in 2022 and another on the evening of April 29, 2024, according to his lawyer, Eric Plouvier.