Algeria denies having imposed sanctions on France – Technologist

The Algerian government denied, Thursday, November 7, the existence of any trade sanctions against France in the wake of Paris’s diplomatic U-turn on the question of Western Sahara. “The press office of the prime minister would like to categorically deny this information which is completely erroneous,” read a press release published by the official APS news agency, naming the former French ambassador to Algiers, Xavier Driencourt, as the source of these “misleading allegations.”

The retired French diplomat, who makes no secret of his criticism of the Algerian regime, had reported on X on Wednesday that Algiers was planning reprisals targeting bilateral trade at a time when a diplomatic rift had set in between the two countries, in the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s recent recognition of “Moroccan sovereignty” over Western Sahara. The French president solemnly confirmed this change of heart during his state visit to Morocco from October 28 to 30.

On the Algerian side, the reaction to France’s change of heart on this issue initially seemed minimalist. Absorbed by the campaign for the September 7 presidential election that led to the re-election of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the authorities in Algiers waited until the pressures of the election had eased before deciding on their response. They were also keen to observe how Macron’s state visit to Morocco might unfold. The lavish staging of French-Moroccan reconciliation, in particular the standing ovation received by the French president at the parliament in Rabat, did not please them.

‘Delusional injunction’

Algeria’s denial of the adoption of trade sanctions against Paris reveals clear unease among its authorities. There is no question that there was a meeting on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Establishments (ABEF) in Algiers, during which informal instructions were given to the heads of Algerian public and private foreign banks – some of them French – to stop processing direct debits for imports and exports to and from France.

This decision seems to have given rise to a tug-of-war within the Algerian government. The ABEF, which only has the status of an association, has no legal right to issue directives to the banks, which are under the supervision of the Bank of Algeria, the central bank. The Algerian authorities did, however, give it this role de facto in June 2022, following the decision by the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, to align itself with Morocco on the question of Western Sahara. On that occasion, the ABEF issued a warning to public and private banks to stop carrying out commercial transactions with Spain. But the measure was deemed counter-productive by Algerian economic operators: While it had no political impact on the Western Sahara issue, it inflicted losses on Algerian companies working with Spain.

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