In Algeria to commemorate France’s repression of independence demonstrations in 1945, French Minister Delegate to the Armed Forces, Alice Rufo, announced the strengthening of cooperation between France and Algeria in “migration” and “judicial” matters.
Following a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers, the Minister Delegate to the Armed Forces, Alice Rufo announced enhanced cooperation between France and Algeria in “security and defense”, “migration”, and “judicial” areas.
During the meeting, Paris and Algiers discussed ways to “intensify” their cooperation in the fields of “security and defense”, “migration”, and “judicial”, added Alice Rufo, who is in Algeria to commemorate France’s repression of independence demonstrations in 1945.
“We have discussed avenues for the coming months to be useful for the interests of our two countries and for the relationship between France and Algeria,” she declared.
“We discussed cooperation in the migration field, and France, as I reiterated, welcomes the resumption of the latter following the visit of the Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, and we want to continue in this direction. We discussed ways to intensify this cooperation,” she added.
The “judicial cooperation”
This visit by Alice Rufo marks a warming of relations between Paris and Algiers after nearly two years of deep diplomatic crisis and aimed at “establishing confident and promising relations” and “restoring effective dialogue” with Algiers, according to the Elysée. The Minister Delegate is the second member of the French government to visit Algeria in less than three months, after Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez in mid-February.
The minister also discussed “judicial cooperation” between the two countries. “I know how important this topic is for Algerian authorities and for us as well in the fight against drug trafficking,” she added.
Regarding French journalist Christophe Gleizes, detained in Algeria for almost a year, he will receive his first consular visit “in the coming days,” she also announced.
The return of the French ambassador to Algiers
This visit should be led by Ambassador Stéphane Romatet, who returned to the country on the occasion of Alice Rufo’s visit to Algeria nearly a year after being recalled to Paris by Emmanuel Macron during a peak of tensions between the two countries.
Arrested during a report in May 2024 in Kabylie, Christophe Gleizes was sentenced on appeal in early December to seven years in prison for “apology for terrorism.”
His family announced on Tuesday that he withdrew his appeal in March, a step aiming to pave the way for a possible pardon from President Tebboune.
On a memorial level, the Algerian president and the French minister agreed to resume the work of the joint commission of historians. Comprising five French historians and as many Algerian historians, it was created in the summer of 2022 but has not met since spring 2024.
