North African state’s president calls off France visit

Algeria’s head of state has accused Paris of colonial-era “genocide”

Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has ruled out an official visit to France amid a feud over the former colonial power's support for Morocco in a decades-long territorial dispute.

Over the weekend, Tebboune gave his first televised interview since being sworn in for a second five-year term after his election victory last month. When asked whether his long-awaited trip to Paris was still planned, he replied: “I will not go to Canossa,” using a German expression meaning to humble oneself and seek forgiveness.

The Algerian leader had been scheduled to visit France in late September or early October after several postponements last year. However, already fraught relations between the North African country and Paris have taken a downturn since July, when France joined a growing number of countries – including the US and Spain – in supporting Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Morocco has considered the former Spanish colony to be part of its own territory since 1975. The feud has caused almost half a century of conflict between Rabat and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the Sahrawi people. Algeria views Morocco as an occupying power in the sparsely populated region.

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The Moroccan government has long sought international recognition for its claims, and support for an autonomy plan it submitted to the UN Security Council in 2007. The kingdom has pledged to delegate administrative, legislative, and judicial powers to local residents while maintaining the Moroccan flag and currency. Rabat would also be in charge of the region’s foreign policy, security, and defense, which the Polisario Front has opposed.

In late July, French president Emmanuel Macron described the Moroccan proposal as the only viable option for resolving the long-running conflict over the North African region.

In response, Algeria said the French decision contradicted UN efforts to resolve the crisis through political means, and recalled its ambassador to Paris.

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During the interview on Saturday, President Tebboune condemned colonial-era “genocide” committed by French troops in Algeria for more than 130 years before independence in 1962.

He also expressed concern over the lasting consequences of nuclear tests, including the detonation of the plutonium-filled Blue Jerboa bomb and 16 other nuclear explosions conducted by France in Algeria’s Sahara desert regions between 1960 and 1966. More than 60 years later, the tests continue to taint relations between the countries, with documents obtained in 2013 pointing to a severe radioactive fallout spanning West Africa and southern Europe.

“The serious issues are France’s responsibility for the nuclear tests that still claim lives in southern Algeria. These are the real matters to address, not a false debate over the 1968 agreements,” he said.