Algiers – Sofiane Chaib, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs tasked with the National Community Abroad, affirmed on Tuesday that the decision to declare 12 employees of the French embassy and consulates in Algeria as “persona non grata” is a “sovereign and balanced measure.” This action was taken by Algerian authorities “in the absence of any response to the call for the immediate release of the Algerian consular employee” detained in France.
In a statement to Algerian television, Chaib said, “We demanded the immediate release of this consular employee, who was detained in public, and due to the lack of any response, we decided to expel 12 employees working at the French embassy and consulates in Algeria.”
He emphasized that this “sovereign and balanced measure specifically targeted only those employees under the authority of the French Ministry of Interior, as this new issue is merely the result of repeated practices and maneuvers aimed, through successive steps, at obstructing the momentum to revive bilateral relations.”
Chaib held French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau “fully responsible for this new situation, which was provoked at a sensitive time.” He described the issue as a “fabricated” attempt to undermine “bilateral relations that were entering a phase of de-escalation,” recalling the March 31 phone call between the presidents of both countries, which “demonstrated a willingness to resume dialogue and give bilateral relations new ambition across all areas of cooperation and issues of mutual interest.”
Chaib noted that all measures leading to the Algerian consular employee’s arrest “were instigated by agencies under the French Interior Minister,” describing the pretext used to justify the detention as “flimsy.” He added that the employee “was arrested under unprecedented circumstances, apprehended on April 8 in public view, without the French authorities bothering to formally notify us through diplomatic channels.”
He called the arrest “a blatant violation of the immunities and privileges guaranteed by all international texts and agreements protecting the consular employee in question, and a disregard for the customs and practices that should govern such matters between states.”
Reaffirming Algeria’s “firm resolve” to defend the consular employee, Chaib mentioned that Algerian authorities have engaged “consulting lawyers at the embassy and consulate in Paris.” He also took the opportunity to reassure Algerians residing in France, emphasizing the great attention President Abdelmadjid Tebboune pays to the national community abroad.
