Relations between Algeria and its former coloniser, France, have rarely been straightforward.After hitting a low point in July when France supported Algeria’s regional rival Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, relations appeared to be recovering.
But then the April arrest in France of an Algerian consular official along with two other men for alleged involvement in the kidnapping near Paris of Algerian government critic Amir Boukhors has triggered a new wave of tensions.
So why are diplomats now being expelled, and what does this mean for relations between Algeria and its former coloniser?
Let’s break it down:
Who is Amir Boukhors?
Boukhors, or Amir DZ, is an Algerian online influencer and critic of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune with more than 1 million subscribers on TikTok.
The French government gave Boukhors political asylum in 2023.
But as far as the Algerian government is concerned, he’s a fraudster and a “terrorist”, who they’ve been seeking to extradite from France since 2016. Advertisement
Algeria has tried to extradite Boukhors nine times. All attempts have been declined by France.
Why would an Algerian consular official allegedly want to kidnap him?
Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien in an interview published on April 9, Boukhors said that on returning to his home in Val-de-Marne near Paris during the evening of April 29, 2024, he was stopped by an unmarked car with flashing lights.
Four men in civilian clothes handcuffed him and threw him into the vehicle.
“They first told me that an Algerian official wanted to talk to me, that that was why they were taking me. Then t …