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The diplomatic discord between Algeria and France deepened Sunday after Algiers banned French military planes from its airspace, its latest response to a row over visas and critical comments from President Emmanuel Macron.
France‘s jets regularly fly over the former French colony to reach the Sahel region of West Africa, where its soldiers are helping to battle jihadist insurgents as part of its Operation Barkhane.
A spokesperson for the French Armed Forces said Algeria had closed its airspace to two flights, but that it would have “no major consequences” for operations in the Sahel region.
“This morning when we filed flight plans for two planes, we learned that the Algerians had stopped flights over their territory by French military planes,” French Armed Forces spokesman, Colonel Pascal Ianni, told AFP.
He said the decision had “slightly impacted” supply flights but “does not affect our operations” in the Sahel.
Ianni said there had been no official notification of the flight ban, and the French foreign ministry, contacted by AFP, declined to comment.
The move heightened tensions that had already flared Saturday when the Algerian government recalled its ambassador to France, citing “inadmissible interference” in its affairs.
‘Official history’ of Algeria ‘totally re-written’
According to French and Algerian media reports, Macron told descendants of figures in Algeria’s 1954-62 war for independence that the country was ruled by a “political-military system” that had “totally re-written” its history.
“You can see that the Algerian system is tired, it has been weakened by the Hirak,” he added, referring to the pro-democracy movement that forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power in 2019 after two decades at the helm.
The comments, published in French daily Le Monde, quoted Macron as saying Algeria…