Tebboune Describes Macron's Statement as 'Dangerous, Humiliating'
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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stresses that the dispute with France over President Emmanuel Macron's "dangerous" statements will not end soon and says that they were for "electoral reasons".
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Tebboune: Macron's questioning of the existence of the Algerian nation before French colonialism is extremely dangerous
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his pessimism about ending the dispute between Paris and Algeria, stressing that the Algerians were not nomadic tribes before French colonialism.
In an interview for German magazine Der Spiegel, the Algerian President said his French counterpart had 'humiliated' the Algerians.
Tebboune considered Macron's statements whereby he questioned the existence of an Algerian nation before French colonialism as "extremely dangerous", stressing that no people's history should be messed with, and the Algerians should not in any way be humiliated.
The President stressed that he will not make the first step in dialogue, otherwise, he will lose the support of Algerians, because, according to him, this is a "national problem". He further stressed that no Algerian will accept dialogue "with those who uttered these insults."
Tebboune said the words of the French President were part of an "old colonial hatred", indicating that the statements were merely for "electoral reasons".
Macron's recent statements sparked an open crisis between France and Algeria, which immediately summoned its Ambassador to Paris and banned French planes from flying over Algerian airspace.
This crisis, which is the most serious in 15 years between the two countries, was preceded by a series of disputes over issuing French visas for Algerians, the Algerian war, economic trade, and the French policy on Western Sahara that Algeria considered pro-Moroccan.
Earlier, the Algerian President had said that France should forget that Algeria was once a French colony and noted that the return of the Algerian Ambassador to Paris is linked to full respect for the Algerian state.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the need to work with Algeria, hoping that the current diplomatic tensions would soon subside.
