Algeria has banned the overflight of its territory to French military planes, which usually use its airspace to join or leave the Sahelo-Saharan strip where the troops of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane are deployed, a door said on Sunday. – speech of the French staff. This decision comes in a context of tensions between Paris and Algiers, which announced on Saturday the “immediate recall for consultation” of its ambassador in Paris, expressing its “categorical rejection” of statements attributed to French President Emmanuel Macron referring in particular to “a politico system -military “in power in Algiers.
“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 planes”, declared Colonel Pascal Ianni, confirming information revealed by the daily Le Figaro. The staff has not received any official notification of this decision, he said. “This very slightly disrupts the flow of support, the planes must adapt their flight plan, but this does not affect the operations or the intelligence missions” carried out by France in the Sahel, commented Colonel Ianni, ensuring that the The French staff had “no concerns at this stage”.
A tense diplomatic sequence
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been greatly strained in recent days, as the 60th anniversary of the end of the Algerian war and its independence approaches. According to an article in the daily The world recounting a meeting Thursday between Emmanuel Macron and young descendants of protagonists of the Algerian war (1954-1962), the French president would have estimated that after its independence in 1962, Algeria was built on “a memorial rent “, Maintained by” the politico-military system “. According to The world, Emmanuel Macron also evoked “a completely rewritten official history” which “is not based on truths” but on “a speech which is based on a hatred of France”.
On Wednesday, the French ambassador François Gouyette was also summoned to the Algerian foreign ministry to be notified of “a formal protest” after the Paris decision to halve the visas granted to Algerians wishing to go to France. The ban on Algerian airspace to French military planes comes in a delicate logistical phase for the general staff, which began a few weeks ago to reorganize its system in the Sahelo-Saharan strip.
On Emmanuel Macron’s decision, France is in the process of leaving the northernmost military bases of Mali (Kidal, Timbuktu and Tessalit) and will reduce the number of troops in the Sahel by 2023, to 2,500-3,000 men against more than 5,000 today.