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ALGERIA

Why Paris and Algiers have suspended military cooperation

A diplomatic blunder by the French and then a purge of Algeria's military representation in France have prompted a complete freezing of bilateral defence relations. Africa Intelligence has the lowdown. [...] (758 words)

Issue dated 08/10/2020 Reading time 4 minutes

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ALGERIA
A-NSE
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Djerad
Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Ahmed Gaïd Salah
Armée nationale populaire
Beechcraft
Business and Commuter Aircraft
Enhance Aéro Technic
François Gouyette
François Lecointre
Jean-Yves le Drian
Karim Hadj Sadok
Mohamed Antar Daoud
Ocea
Renaud Devouge
Sabri Boukadoum
Safran Electronics & Defense
Sagem
Saïd Chengriha
Salah Lebdioui
Sonatrach
Stéphane Richou
Thales
Vinci
Xavier Driencourt
Zine-Eddine Samah

Ukraine war impacts Thales, Safran military contracts Free

The two French defence giants are doing business with Russia to kit out Algerian combat aircraft. Sanctions are set to complicate those arrangments. [...]

ALGERIA 13/12/2021

French military still banned from Algerian air space despite diplomatic outreach

Paris hopes Algeria will soon lift its ban on the use of its airspace to resupply military operations in the Sahel, namely Barkhane. The army is currently using private foreign sub-contractors, not part of the ban, to fly equipment over Algeria. [...]

SAHEL FRANCE ALGERIA 07/12/2021

Macron and Tebboune quietly mend their fences

The French president spoke at length with his Algerian counterpart in late November. The two leaders agreed to gradually ease the tensions between them over the next few months. Meanwhile Paris and Algiers have resumed discussions of the Sahel. [...]

ALGERIA 27/09/2021

Algerian navy phones it in at French port

One of Algeria's two recently acquired frigates paid a visit to Toulon earlier this month. It was unable to fully take part in manoeuvres because its missiles are in bad shape. [...]

NORTH AFRICA EUROPEAN UNION 02/07/2021

Frontex plans to fly surveillance balloons over southern Mediterranean

After testing two CNIM aerostats in the Aegean Sea, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency plans to deploy this surveillance equipment in North Africa to counter migratory flows. [...]

ALGERIA 13/04/2021

Defence relations remain frosty after French PM cancels another trip to Algiers

Military cooperation between France and Algeria is at a standstill after the French PM Jean Castex cancelled his visit to Algiers planned on 10 April, thus exasperating his counterpart Abdelaziz Djerad. [...]

The visit of French Prime Minister Jean Castex to Algiers, scheduled for April 10, has been cancelled. © Sadak Souici/Le Pictorium/Maxppp

ALGERIA 02/04/2021

Algiers reinforces its southern border with new detention centre in Djanet

With Libya intending to tighten control of its borders, Algeria is poised to become a preferred route for migrants heading to Europe and has responded by announcing the opening of a new detention centre in the south. [...]

ALGERIA 08/03/2021

Outgoing MP Menani takes full control of fibre optic specialist Marais Algérie

The RND member of parliament for Biskra is now the sole shareholder of Marais Algérie, a sub-contractor for Algérie Télécom and other operators. [...]

ALGERIA 04/02/2021

Tebboune moves to root out Gaid Salah's legacy in intelligence services and army

Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his military chief of staff Said Chengriha want to erase the legacy of Chengriha's predecessor Ahmed Gaid Salah, who had put the intelligence services under the control of the army. This major overhaul could take place as soon as the president returns from Germany. [...]

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his Chief of Staff Said Chengriha on 10 October 2020. © Algerian Ministry of National Defense

ALGERIA 08/01/2021

Jean Castex abruptly postpones Algiers visit

The French prime minister Jean Castex, who was due to travel to Algiers with several of his ministers on 18 January, has postponed his trip due to diary clashes. [...]

ALGERIA 18/11/2020

Tebboune clan fears 'medical coup' as president convalesces in Germany

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's entourage has been unsuccessful in having him brought home from Germany where he is being treated for a severe case of Covid-19. [...]

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. © HAYOUNG JEON/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

ALGERIA 04/11/2020

Bouteflika's Great Mosque is inaugurated without Tebboune, without the public and without women

Déjà plombée par l'absence du président Abdelmadjid Tebboune, l'inauguration de la Grande mosquée d'Alger, le 28 octobre, s'est aussi faite... sans la moindre présence féminine. [...]

The Great Mosque in Algiers was inaugurated on 28 October 2020. © Billel Bensalem/APP/MAXPPP

ALGERIA 22/10/2020

Abdelaziz Khellaf, the post-Covid recovery supremo

The launch of the post-Covid-19 recover plan will give Abdellaziz Khellaf a chance to enhance his influence at Mouradia Palace. [...]

ALGERIA 14/10/2020

Why Tebboune presented no candidates for the African Union Commission

As applications for commissioners' posts continue to be scrutinised at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Algeria, which has been one of the long-standing pillars of the pan-African organisation, is completely out of the running. [...]

ALGERIA 09/10/2020

Ambassador Salah Lebdioui to miss out on Paris farewell dinner?

Hastily recalled to Algiers at the beginning of September against a backdrop of Franco-Algerian tensions, the ambassador Salah Lebdioui is unsure as to whether he will be to accept an invitation from the think tank ADAPes to a debate and dinner on 21 October. [...]

ALGERIA 07/10/2020

Further delay expected in execution of Raytheon spy plane contract

Algerian pilots are no longer able to travel to Oklahoma City to learn how to fly the three G550 business jets which are being converted for use as surveillance aircraft. [...]

A Gulfstream G550 plane. © Markus Mainka/Picture alliance/Newscom/MaxPPP

ALGERIA 23/09/2020

Stéphane Richou, a new military attaché to mend fences with generals

Just two years after his appointment, French defence attaché Renaud Devouge has been replaced by Colonel Stéphane Richou, who will have to improve relations with the military. [...]

Colonel Stéphane Richou in 2018, when he was appointed to the rank of officer of the National Order of Merit. © French Embassy in Ethiopia and to the African Union

ALGERIA 17/09/2020

French Embassy stays in diplomatic quarantine as François Gouyette takes charge

France's new ambassador in Algeria will have the difficult job of reviving bilateral relations, which are currently at a particularly low ebb. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune believes that France backed the "hirak" protest movement and his presidential rival Azzedine Mihoubi. [...]

French ambassador in Algeria François Gouyette. © Abaca Press

ALGERIA 05/06/2020

Ambassador Driencourt set to leave his post amid diplomatic tensions

Much appreciated by Algiers during the era of former president Bouteflika, it's time for French ambassador Xavier Driencourt to move on. As he readies to leave in the next few months, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has gone on the offensive against Paris in a calculated populist move. [...]

The French ambassador in Algiers Xavier Driencourt. © DR

Spotlight

ALGERIA 12/03/2020

Abdelmadjid Tebboune enters troubled waters

What with an economy on its knees and a resurgent Hirak protest movement, Abdelmadjid Tebboune is entering the trickiest phase of his presidency since he was elected in December. The head of state lacks the leverage needed to deal with [. [...]

Spotlight

ALGERIA 18/02/2020

How Patrick Pouyanné inadvertently led to Kamel-Eddine Chikhi's ousting from Sonatrach

Kamel-Eddine Chikhi only managed to hold on to the top seat at Sonatrach for just two short months. Behind his fleeting career at the top of the national oil firm lies a tug of war with the Algerian generals over [. [...]

Spotlight

ALGERIA 13/02/2020

Saïd Chengriha resumes hunt for aerostats without Lockheed

Less than two months after having succeeded army chief of staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah, Saïd Chengriha has relaunched the National Popular Army's (ANP) procurement programme. The first item on his menu is the huge contract for surveillance aerostats for the [. [...]

Spotlight

ALGERIA 09/01/2020

Abdelmadjid Tebboune's limited room for manoeuvre

The key elements of Abdelmadjid Tebboune's roadmap were drawn up even before his December 12 election (MC 1366). Paradoxically, the death of Ahmed Gaïd Salah will give free rein to the new president, who was (badly) elected in a vote [. [...]

On our other sites

Intelligence Online 09/09/2019

VIP aircraft sow discord between Paris and Gaid Salah

While Alger's army chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah launches into anti-corruption probes within the highest echelons of government, announcing "the time of reckoning has come", a secret deal with the Algerian ministry of national defence has got Paris and Algiers in a flutter. [...]

Receive free prompts for these topics

ALGERIA
A-NSE
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Djerad
Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Ahmed Gaïd Salah
Armée nationale populaire
Beechcraft
Business and Commuter Aircraft
Enhance Aéro Technic
François Gouyette
François Lecointre
Jean-Yves le Drian
Karim Hadj Sadok
Mohamed Antar Daoud
Ocea
Renaud Devouge
Sabri Boukadoum
Safran Electronics & Defense
Sagem
Saïd Chengriha
Salah Lebdioui
Sonatrach
Stéphane Richou
Thales
Vinci
Xavier Driencourt
Zine-Eddine Samah

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