It took eleven days for French diplomacy to officially condemn the arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. Eleven days to denounce, this November 27, an “unacceptable” and “unfounded” detention, in the words of Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. The previous week, President Emmanuel Macron’s entourage expressed their concern over the “disappearance” of the 75-year-old intellectual, arrested on November 16 leaving Algiers airport. During this time, Paris tried everything, behind the scenes and in the greatest confidentiality, to get Sansal out of the trap as quickly as possible. Wasted effort.
The author of 2084: the end of the worldslayer of the Algerian regime and Islamism, was questioned on November 26 by the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Algiers and imprisoned. He risks life in prison for “undermining the integrity of the national territory”. In question, it seems, his comments to the far-right media Frontières. Member of the committee of experts of this site, Sansal affirmed that Morocco – Algeria’s historical rival – had not been colonized “because it is a large state”. “It’s easy to colonize little things that have no history, but to colonize a state is very difficult,” he added in this interview, before explaining that France had “arbitrarily decided to attach all of eastern Morocco to Algeria” during colonization.
“This arrest means that an Algerian is still going to prison today for having questioned the narrative of official history,” underlines researcher Khadija Mohsen-Finan. The terrorist motive seems to be retained, under article 87 bis of the Penal Code, which judges as such “any act targeting the security of the State, the integrity of the territory, the stability and the normal functioning of institutions”.
Surge of violence
“At the point where we are, Boualem Sansal risks not escaping a heavy sentence in court, fears historian Pierre Vermeren, specialist in the Maghreb. The regime could always release him a few months later, for medical reasons for example, which will allow him to keep face.” In the meantime, Paris is looking for a parade. “France still needs to have means of putting pressure on the Algerian authorities,” continues Khadija Mohsen-Finan. “There are not many of them.”
“Emmanuel Macron has nothing to offer,” adds Pierre Vermeren. “What can he negotiate? He has no prisoners to release. There is nothing to exchange. The only thing he can do is is to reduce visas or financial transfers… But if he gets into this standoff, the escalation could go very far, because the ultras seem to be in a position of strength in Algiers.”
This is evidenced by the surge of violence from the media subservient to the authorities. On November 22, the official APS press agency described Boualem Sansal as a “puppet of anti-Algerian revisionism.” The Algeria Patriotic conspiracy site, historically close to the DRS (Department of Intelligence and Security, dissolved in 2015), believes that “the traitor Sansal has no place in Algeria except in prison”, describes him as a “vile individual” and “foreign agent” and copiously insults, in passing, the French president, this “little banker of the Rothschilds” symbol of the “reign of perversion, corruption and nepotism”.
Complete break
Among France’s rare levers is an agreement signed in 2007 with Algeria, exempting holders of French and Algerian diplomatic passports from visas. “Restricting visas for all immigrants would have much less effect than attacking the privileges of ruling elites who are exempt from visas,” continues Pierre Vermeren. If the Elysée puts an end to this practice, it will affect a But the crisis could then take another turn, if the Algerian regime nominally attacked French people or Algerians, for example by revealing financial or moral affairs.”
A total break is still far away, but the scenario is not excluded. “This is perhaps what the hardliners of the regime want, deep down: to cut off the relationship with France once and for all, explains the historian. Let’s not forget that many officers of the new generation who constitute the “Algerian general staff were trained in Russia.”
Third customer of the Russian military industry, Algeria is careful in its relations with the Kremlin. The powerful chief of staff Saïd Chengriha visited Moscow in July 2023 as part of “strengthening cooperation” between the two armies. A month earlier, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune met his counterpart in Moscow. And described Vladimir Putin as a “friend of humanity”.
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