Algeria bans its airspace to French military planes – franceinfo

Until further notice, French military planes are no longer allowed to fly over Algeria to join or leave the Sahelo-Saharan strip where the troops of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane are deployed. According to a spokesperson for the French general staff, Algiers has indeed decided to ban the overflight of its territory, Sunday, October 3. “This morning, by filing the flight plans for two planes, we learned that the Algerians were closing the overflight of their territory to French military planesColonel Pascal Ianni told AFP. This very slightly disrupts the flow of support, the planes have to adapt their flight plan, but this does not affect either operations or intelligence missions “. The French staff did not, however, “no worries at this point”.

Relations between Paris and Algiers have been greatly strained in recent days, as the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Algerian war and its independence approaches. On Saturday, Algiers already asked for the “immediate recall for consultation” of his ambassador in Paris, after words by Emmanuel Macron in an article in World. In it, the President of the Republic estimates that after its independence in 1962, Algeria was built on “a memorial rent”, maintained by “the politico-military system”. He also mentions “an official story”, according to him, “totally rewritten”, who “does not rely on truths” but on “a speech which is based on a hatred of France”.

On Wednesday, it was the French ambassador in Algiers, François Gouyette, who had been summoned to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be notified “a formal government protest” after the decision of Paris to halve the visas granted to Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians wishing to go to France.