France to Expel Algerian Diplomats in Diplomatic Row

PARIS, 14 May 2025 (BSS/AFP) – France has announced the expulsion of Algerian diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to Algiers’ decision to send French officials back home, as diplomatic tensions between the two countries escalate.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed the move on Wednesday, saying he would summon Algeria’s charge d’affaires to formally inform him of the decision. Speaking to BFMTV, Barrot described the French response as “perfectly proportionate” to the Algerian action, which he labelled “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

Algeria had earlier this week summoned the charge d’affaires of the French embassy in Algiers to notify him of its intention to expel a number of French officials, prompting a swift response from Paris.

A French diplomatic source indicated that the targeted officials were on temporary reinforcement missions, but did not specify how many individuals were affected or when the expulsions would take effect.

This latest diplomatic spat follows a series of incidents that have strained the historic but often fraught relationship between the two countries. In April, France expelled 12 Algerian diplomats and consular officials and recalled its ambassador after Algeria ordered a similar number of French officials to leave in response to the arrest of an Algerian official in France.

The two nations’ ties have been further complicated by France’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara last year, a move that angered Algeria, which supports the pro-independence Polisario Front in the region.

Relations hit another low in November when Algeria arrested and imprisoned French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal on national security charges, a decision that sparked outcry in Paris.

The tension is also underscored by deep historical grievances stemming from the 1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence, which ended more than a century of French colonial rule in the North African country.