Algeria Summons French Diplomat Over Visa Blackmail: A Firm Rebuttal to Paris’s Diplomatic Manipulations
✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada
Algiers, Algeria | Algeria has once again made it unmistakably clear that it will not bow to Paris’s games of pressure and distortion. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Community Abroad, and African Affairs summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of the French Embassy in Algiers, demanding explanations over a controversial communiqué issued by the French diplomatic mission. The statement, which attempted to link visa application disruptions to Algeria’s supposed refusal to accredit French consular staff, was denounced as a blatant manipulation of facts and a gross violation of diplomatic norms.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry stressed that France’s communiqué presented to public opinion a “biased and erroneous” version of reality, irresponsibly shifting blame onto Algeria for a situation that, in truth, stems from France’s own deliberate obstructionism. By attempting to instrumentalize the sensitive issue of visas—an issue that affects families, students, and professionals alike—Paris has crossed a red line, reducing diplomacy to sheer blackmail.
Algiers firmly reminded the French representative that the non-accreditation of French diplomats in Algeria was nothing more than the strict application of the principle of reciprocity, following France’s refusal for more than two years to accredit Algerian consuls and diplomatic staff in France. The figures speak volumes: three consuls general, six consuls, and 46 Algerian diplomats have been left stranded, unable to assume their posts because their requests have been deliberately shelved by the French authorities. The result has been serious harm to Algerian nationals residing in France, whose consular services and protection have been deliberately undermined.
Most damningly, the Algerian government underscored that the visa question has no direct connection with the issue of diplomatic accreditation. The French government’s strategy, Algiers made clear, is one of calculated coercion—using visas as a tool of pressure to force Algeria into compliance with Paris’s agenda. This tactic has already provoked Algeria to denounce the 2013 Franco-Algerian agreement on reciprocal visa exemptions for diplomatic and service passport holders. Now, France is escalating the confrontation by targeting ordinary Algerian passport holders, attempting to impose its will through what Algeria rightfully calls “blackmail, bargaining, and pressure.”
What France portrays as administrative obstacles are, in reality, political maneuvers designed to mask its own failures, both domestically and in its relations with Algeria. By dragging the visa dossier into the arena of manipulation, Paris not only betrays the spirit of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) but also reveals the depth of its reliance on coercive tactics rather than genuine partnership.
Algeria’s message is unequivocal: it will not tolerate being reduced to a scapegoat for French domestic woes, nor will it accept the instrumentalization of its nationals’ legitimate rights for political gain. If Paris seeks a relationship with Algiers, it must be based on mutual respect and equality—not arrogance, coercion, or post-colonial reflexes.
The era of unilateral diktats is over. Algeria has spoken with clarity: the politics of blackmail will be met with firmness, and those who seek to pressure Algeria will find that the cost of such arrogance far outweighs the benefits.
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