HIBAPRESS
Algerian media outlets affiliated with decision-making circles have intensified their attacks in recent days on former French Interior Minister Bruno Le Maire, following his departure from the French government, in a campaign described by observers as a calculated maneuver to divert attention away from the failure of the Algerian regime in managing its foreign crises and to prepare the atmosphere for a new rapprochement with Paris.
Violent Campaign Against the French Interior Minister
According to a report by Jeune Afrique magazine, the Algerian presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained deliberate silence, leaving the task of responding to the official media, which launched a fierce campaign against Le Maire, describing him as a "firestarter," accusing him of working to distort the image of Algeria and fuel differences between the two countries.
The report clarified that Le Maire's departure was not the result of an official dismissal, but a personal decision after he refused to join the new government of Sébastien Lecornu, which Algeria considered a breach of an indirect promise he made to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to remain in his position.
Observers believe that the Algerian leadership considered the presence of Le Maire an obstacle to any attempt to normalize relations with France, especially after his series of hardline decisions, which included denouncing the 1968 and 2007 agreements, deporting Algerians, reducing visas, freezing assets, and closing consulates, which deepened the diplomatic gap between the two countries instead of bridging it.
The Algerian Regime Exports Its Problems Abroad
The report added that the former French minister misjudged the way the Algerian regime thinks, as he confronted his intransigence with a more rigid stance from President Tebboune, who explicitly informed the French that he did not want to hear Le Maire's name again and that his presence in the government was a direct reason for the continuation of the severance and the freezing of security cooperation between the two countries.
Observers consider the recent media campaign to be nothing more than a repetition of the Algerian regime's usual method of exporting its problems, as happened in its crisis with Spain in 2022 after Madrid's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over its Sahara. After a similar wave of escalation, Algeria returned to normalization without Spain changing its position, which suggests that the regime is today trying to repeat the same scenario with France, by blaming a former minister, to hide the real predicament, which is the French recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara.
