French President Macron and his Algerian counterpart Tebboune meeting at
the presidential palace in Algiers last month [photo credit: Twitter]
However all was apparently forgotten or forgiven as Macron led an
impressive 90- strong delegation to Algiers, among them 6 cabinet
ministers, business people, religious leaders, sporting figures,
academics and artists. Intriguingly two-thirds of the delegation were
French of Algerian descent. As our regular contributor Francis Ghilès
noted in his recent Middle East Institute podcast
the visit was “meant to be a seduction trip vis a vis the Algerian
young” as well as a way of “speaking to the suburbs of France where
there have been many social problems not just with people of Algerian
origin but with people of Africa and North Africa generally.”
Although Macon’s office sought to play down
the importance of energy (France draws about 17% of its gas from
Russia and is less vulnerable than many other European countries) it was
not a topic that could be ignored. Indeed, among his large entourage
was the head of the French energy company Engie. Algeria has Africa’s
largest reserves of natural gas and pipelines to both Spain and Italy
so, as the Ukraine war drags on, it makes good sense and good politics
for Macron to encourage friendly relations. For Tebboune, although he
has to tread carefully lest he appear to cater too overtly to Algeria’s
former colonial masters, capitalising on the opportunities the war
provides to give a boost to the country’s near-moribund economy is an
essential undertaking and one that improved relations with France will
help to secure.
Also on the agenda were discussions about bringing stability to
Libya, the threat of jihadist terrorism in the Sahel region and the
vexed question of Western Sahara. And, of course, migration. Last year,
Macron in an appeal to the right oversaw a reduction in visas
for North Africans that amounted to a 50% cut. Talented young
Algerians, particularly in the IT sector, are anxious to leave. If
France were to ease restrictions it would prove a double-edged sword for
Tebboune. On the one hand it creates a brain drain but on the other it
means an easing of pressure on the government from the youth-driven
Hirak movement, a campaign driven as much by lack of job opportunities
as it is by calls for democracy.
However, amidst the glad-handing between the two, and the joint
statement that concluded the visit there was conspicuously no mention of
visas. Also not commented on was a high-level meeting between army
chiefs of staff and security chiefs from the two countries where the
Algerians repeated their demand for the release of maps showing the
extent of nuclear contamination
from the 1960s when France used Algeria as a testing ground for its
nuclear bombs. The request was refused, a pattern that has persisted
over several decades.
In 1960 France carried out a successful nuclear explosion in the
Algerian Sahara and subsequently 17 more were conducted up until the
end of 1966. (As part of the deal that ended the brutal 8 year
independence war in 1962, France was allowed to continue its testing
programme until 1967.) Despite repeated efforts
to secure a full and detailed accounting of the extent of radioactive
poisoning over the years since, the French have effectively stonewalled.
Macron’s decision last year to acknowledge
to the people of French Polynesia that the nearly 200 tests France
carried out there from 1966 -1996 were “not clean” was part of his charm
effort to re-engage in the Pacific. He told the Polynesians: "For too
long, the state has preferred to keep silent about this past. What I
want to break today is this silence." It is a statement Algerians,
especially those poisoned
by radioactivity, can only view with bitter irony as the youthful
Macron and the aged Tebboune declared their bromance to the world with a
joint declaration calling for a “new era” that “(laid)the foundation
for a renewed partnership expressed through a concrete and constructive
approach, focused on future projects and youth.”