Algeria condemns French ambassador over 'hostile plans'
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Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stéphane Romatet over accusations that French intelligence was involved in destabilizing efforts within Algeria.
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People chant slogans and wave flags during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, on April 10, 2019. (AP)
Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stephane Romatet for what it dubbed "hostile plans" by the French intelligence service, Algerian media reported on Sunday,
Romatet was summoned to the Foreign Ministry last week to answer allegations of French intelligence participation in destabilizing efforts in Algeria, according to the state-run publication El Moudjahid.
The summoning came following reports that the French intelligence service had recruited former Algerian terrorists to destabilize the country's security.
It referenced the instance of Mohamed Amine Aissaoui, who recently made a live confession on Algerian television about a suspected plot orchestrated by French intelligence.
Algerian officials told the French envoy that such measures "won't go unanswered" and that they will not stand idly by in response to "attacks on its sovereignty," according to the newspaper.
There was no French response to the Algerian media claim.
This event adds to Algeria and France's already difficult ties, which have been hampered by disagreements over historical memory, migration, and the Western Sahara conflict.
Last month, the Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Institutions banned all import and export transactions with France in reaction to its acknowledgment of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
Morocco primarily controls Western Sahara, but the Polisario Front has advocated for the territory's independence since before Spain, its colonial ruler, withdrew in 1975. The United Nations classifies it as a "non-autonomous territory."
Rabat, which governs around 80% of the territory, supports a plan for limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. In contrast, the Polisario Front is demanding a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, which was intended to be established following the ceasefire in 1991 but has yet to be implemented.
