A Growing Rift Between France and Algeria

April 14th, 2025

Adhiyanth Ram

Algeria’s history has been cluttered with tries for change, but their political movements seem to be moving in a circle without completing any revolutions. Recent developments in both the Sahel and Western Sahara depict them not only alienating their citizens, but their neighboring countries. But as of late, it seems by accomplishing the former, they continue to perpetuate the latter.

Historically, Algeria’s relations with France have been quite fraught. Most notably, in July of last year, France shifted its position on the Moroccan-Algerian dispute over regional autonomy, claiming the West Sahara territory was part of Morocco. This stance was met by anger from that of Algeria, as their regional ties stood in favor of Western-Saharan independence.

Then, in March 2025, 76-year old French-Algerian writer Bousalem Sansal was sentenced to 5 years in prison in Algeria after casting doubt on the regional borders separating Algeria and Morocco. Prosecutors justified his imprisonment by claiming his comments threatened national security. Specifically, he was found guilty under charges human rights advocates claim are utilized to often silence dissent, which in his case, involved “undermining national unity, insulting public institutions, actions likely to harm the national economy, and disseminating videos that threaten national stability.”

These previous disputes between nations ultimately culminated in the expulsion of 12 ambassadors from the country on Monday. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, responded by saying the source of this expulsion was “a response to the arrest of three Algerian nationals suspected of serious offenses on French soil.” In fact, the Algerians arrested on Friday were arrested for kidnapping and having a connection to an ordeal with terrorists, per the preliminary charges. The clear descent of the relations between the nations continues to proliferate, as Algeria’s undemocratic regime fosters these differences.

Algeria’s distaste towards France comes at a time where the country seems ready to ally itself with nations like Russia and China, resultantly distancing itself from the west. Between Russia, bilateral trade increased 2.2 times, reaching $3.765 billion in 2023. And in terms of China, Algeria and China solidified their partnership by signing a contract on their joint implantation of the Belt and Road Initiative in Algeria.

Algeria’s alliances seem to be strengthening with these 2 nations, as they seem eager to ally with countries that can provide both great economic and regional stability, and that don’t question the ethics of their ideologies. This reality perpetuates the injustices their citizens face, as it becomes clear change is only possible if done within Algeria, rather than externally.

Extemp Analysis by Ty Tan

How will the rift between France and Algeria harm West Africa?

Approaching this question, the substructure is pretty obviously status quo/change, as it asks for the extemper to describe the France/Algeria rift and its effects on West Africa as whole.

If I approached this, I would take a more human approach; the independence of Western Sahara and Algeria has a lot of human rights abuses underlying its presence, so a super strong humorous approach wouldn’t be preferred. I also think that the context needed for a speech like this would be immense, as a triad question like this would require explaining how Algeria/France have historically interacted with West African nations.

Approaching this speech, I would identify a broad thesis of large harm, as it's hard to be more specific with blocking off points.

Thesis: It will destabilize

P1: Disrupting Security Cooperation
P2: Economic Fragmentation
P3: Polarization amongst Geopolitical Lines (West vs Russia)

I think all these points require multi-actor analysis, as the question is a triad. In this case, breaking down Point 1 could explain this thought:

P1: Disrupting Security Cooperation

A1: Algeria traditionally fights insecurity in Africa

A2: Recent Strain makes Franco-Algerian Security Co-op Key

B1: France’s stalled security collaboration = weakened Jihadist countermovements

B2: France/Algeria both lose the ability to influence and support West Africa

C: Leave West Africa to be destabilized by Jihadists = destruction. (human impact here)

I think a point like this, although dense, is still straightforward. It also provides a degree of nuance that you could leverage to win ranks in a successful speech. The most important thing for triadic questions like this is to include every actor and apply the change effectively to separate it from the status quo.