France Returns Ambassador to Algeria as Rufo Attends Sétif Commemoration
- On Friday, France announced it is returning ambassador Stéphane Romatet to Algeria as French Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces Alice Rufo attends ceremonies marking the 1945 massacre.
- Bilateral ties were strained in 2025 when Algeria expelled 12 French diplomats, triggered by Paris backing Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
- Renewed dialogue prioritizes the return of Christophe Gleizes, the 36-year-old French journalist sentenced to prison on charges of "glorifying terrorism," allegations his supporters strongly contest.
- French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers this February, reactivating high-level cooperation on security, migration, and counter-terrorism.
- The decision to return the envoy "reflects the president of the Republic's determination to address relations between France and Algeria with honesty" and "to restore effective dialogue," officials said.
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Ruffo will pay special attention to the return to France of journalist Christophe Glez, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison in Algeria.
Read our editorial on Saturday, May 9, 2026. More than a year after the reminder of the French ambassador to Algeria who had been in the most serious crisis between the two countries since 1962, the hope of a
Paris announced the return of its ambassador to Algeria, on the occasion of a ministerial visit which should allow "to build trusting relations" and "to restore an effective dialogue" with Algiers, after almost two years of tense relations between the two countries.
By sending the French ambassador to Algiers and recognizing France's responsibility in the killings of 8 May 1945 in Algeria, Emmanuel Macron wants to bring Algerian-French relations back to their stage before the crisis of 2024. But the bet is not won.
French ambassador returns to Algeria in bid to ease Paris-Algier tensions
France has sent back its ambassador to Algeria in a bid to ease tensions between Paris and its former North African colony. The envoy was recalled more than a year ago after relations between the two countries soured over France’s decision to back Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.
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