Algeria announces the withdrawal of its accreditation to France 24

Published on : 06/13/2021 – 9:22 PM

The Algerian authorities announced, Sunday, June 13, the withdrawal of the accreditation of the continuous news channel France 24. A decision officially motivated by the “manifest and repeated hostility” of the channel, which had already been put on guard in March for his cover of the Hirak.

This withdrawal is also motivated by “the non respect of the rules of professional ethics, disinformation and manipulation as well as a proven aggressiveness towards Algeria”, affirmed the Minister of Communication and spokesperson of the government Ammar Belhimer, quoted by the official APS news agency.

This decision comes in the context of a stiffening of the Algerian authorities vis-à-vis the independent media, in particular since the major popular demonstrations of spring 2019 – the Hirak – which called for the dismantling of the regime.

The announcement of the withdrawal of accreditation from France 24 comes the day after early legislative elections, the avowed objective of re-legitimizing the power in place is encountering a high rate of abstention.

The news channel, which covered the legislative elections from Algiers this weekend in English, Arabic and French, reacted on Sunday, June 13, saying it was surprised “not to have received an explanation” for this withdrawal. accreditation of its correspondents.

“We learned at the end of the day that Algeria had decided to withdraw the accreditations of France 24 correspondents in the country. Our channel is surprised not to have received any explanations and recalls that our coverage of Algerian news is done with transparency, independence and honesty. As is the case everywhere in the world, “the channel said in a statement.

Opaque and random procedure

For years, foreign media working in Algeria have been subjected to a bureaucratic, opaque and haphazard accreditation procedure.

The director of Agence France-Presse (AFP) for Algeria, Philippe Agret, appointed in October 2019, has never obtained accreditation from the authorities. No reason was given in this regard.

Working conditions are difficult for Algerian journalists, against a backdrop of repression of Hirak by the authorities.

Born in February 2019 from a rejection of a fifth term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, aphasic president, this protest movement continued despite the ousting of Mr. Bouteflika and his clan, then the election of a new Head of State, Abdelmajdid Tebboune.

The Hirak calls for the dismantling of the system of governance in place since independence in 1962.

The Algerian power affirms that the main demands of the movement have been satisfied. In the aftermath of the Algerian legislative elections of June 12, a ballot rejected by the protest movement of Hirak and part of the opposition, the authorities announced a national turnout of 30.20% – the lowest score for at least 20 years for this type of election.

With AFP