PARIS, (The Southern African Times) – Algeria on Saturday withdrew its ambassador to Paris for consultations, state TV reported, in a move that followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to cut visas by half and controversial remarks on Algerian politics and history.
This comes just three days after the French ambassador to Algiers was summoned to the foreign ministry to protest Paris’ decision to reduce the number of visas granted to Algerian nationals.
France on Tuesday had said it would sharply reduce the number of visas granted to people from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, accusing the former French colonies of not doing enough to allow illegal immigrants to return.
However, Macron added more fuel to the fire Thursday through series of controversial remarks over the political situation in Algeria, minimizing his country’s role in the brutal colonisation of the country in an attempt to rewrite history.
