Algeria will not take “the first step” to ease tensions with Macron and France – LCI

Algeria will not do “the first step”. This Saturday in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune affirms that his country will not try to ease the tensions caused by Emmanuel Macron’s critical remarks on the “nation” Algerian reported on October 2 by our colleagues from World.

“I have no regrets. Macron has reopened an old conflict in a totally unnecessary way”, denounces the Algerian leader in this interview. “If Zemmour says something like that, whatever, nobody pays attention. But when a head of state declares that Algeria was not a separate nation, it is very serious”, he castigates. In these conditions, “I won’t be the one to take the first step “, warns the Algerian head of state. “Otherwise I will lose all the Algerians, it is not about me, but about a national problem (…) No Algerian would accept that I contact those who insulted us “, explains President Tebboune.

Emmanuel Macron angered Algiers following comments reported on October 2 by The world. The head of state accused the system “politico-military” Algerian to maintain a “memorial rent” by serving his people a “official story” who “does not rely on truths”. According to the evening daily, Emmanuel Macron also said that “the construction of Algeria as a nation is a phenomenon to watch. Was there an Algerian nation before French colonization? That is the question (…) “.

TO Der Spiegel, Tebboune denounces these remarks reported to his French counterpart. “We do not touch the history of a people, and we do not insult the Algerians”, deplores the Algerian president. “Why did (Mr. Macron) say that? I think it was for strategic electoral reasons”, according to Tebboune. “It’s the same speech as the far-right journalist Éric Zemmour

used for a long time: Algeria was not a nation, it was France which made it a nation “, he argues. For the Algerian President, Emmanuel Macron “sided with those who justify colonization”.

The German weekly asked if there is a possibility of getting out of this diplomatic crisis with France? “No, if the French want to go to Mali or Niger now, they will just have to fly nine hours instead of four”, explains Abdelmadjid Tebboune, assuring however that a “exception” would be made for “the rescue of injured persons”.

“But for everything else, we don’t have to cooperate with each other anymore, maybe it’s over now”, he warns, accusing Emmanuel Macron of having “undermined the dignity of Algerians”.

Angry with the French head of state, the Algerian president is laurels for Angela Merkel’s Germany. “The Germans have always treated us with respect, they have never treated us with arrogance, there have never been any disagreements on foreign policy”, he greets, saying “admire” the “perseverance and modesty of Angela Merkel”.