By Abbas Mimouni and Mohammad Sio
ALGIERS, Algeria / ISTANBUL (AA) -- Algeria on Saturday summoned the charge d’affaires of the French Embassy in Algiers after a French state television channel aired what it described as a documentary containing “unacceptable insults and unjustified provocations,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry said.
In a statement carried by the Algerian Press Service, the ministry said the French diplomat was received at the Foreign Ministry following the broadcast by France 2 of a program “falsely presented as a documentary” but which it called “a web of lies, fabrications and slander” that included “deep insults and unjustified provocations.”
France 2 aired an investigative report Thursday alleging that Algerian authorities were involved in orchestrating an attempted abduction of an Algerian blogger living in France, whom Algiers classifies as a “terrorist.”
The Foreign Ministry said it raised four points with the diplomat that, in its view, underscore the seriousness of the broadcast, including the responsibility of a French public service channel for what it described as “a blatant attack on Algeria.”
The ministry said the program could not have been aired without “complicity or, at the very least, approval” from the public authority overseeing the channel.
It also said the involvement of the French Embassy in Algiers and the personal participation of Ambassador Stephane Romatet in promoting the program reinforced the perception that the broadcast had official backing from French authorities.
French authorities have not commented on the matter.
According to the statement, the program represents a new phase “in escalating hostile practices” overseen by official French circles aimed at keeping Algerian-French relations in “a state of constant tension.”
Algeria strongly condemned the broadcast and rejected what it called “unacceptable accusations and insults against the Algerian state and its institutions,” the ministry said. It also expressed firm rejection of “the French ambassador’s involvement in actions incompatible with his diplomatic duties under international norms.”
Relations between Algeria and France have been strained in recent months. The two countries downgraded diplomatic representation to the level of charge d’affaires after ties deteriorated on July 30, 2024, following France’s recognition of Morocco’s proposal for resolving the Western Sahara dispute.
Morocco proposed broad autonomy for the territory under its sovereignty in 2007, while the Polisario Front calls for a self-determination referendum, a position supported by Algeria, which hosts refugees from the territory.