Macron Hopes For Easing Of Tensions With Algeria

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he hoped that tensions with Algeria would ease following his critical comments about the country's leaders and a row about visas

Paris, Oct 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he hoped that tensions with Algeria would ease following his critical comments about the country's leaders and a row about visas.

"My wish is for a calming down because I think it's better to talk and to make progress," Macron told the France Inter broadcaster, adding that his relations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune were "truly cordial".

Algeria over the weekend recalled its ambassador from Paris and banned French military planes from its airspace, which France regularly uses to reach its forces battling jihadists in the Sahel region to the south.

The moves came after France announced it would slash the number of visas granted to Algerians by half, as well as reported comments by Macron that Algeria's post-independence "political-military system" had "totally re-written" the country's history.

Macron told descendants of Algeria's war of independence last week that the history transmitted to Algerians was "not based on truths" but "on a discourse of hatred towards France", according to remarks reported by Le Monde newspaper on Saturday.

The office of Algeria's president responded by saying the comments, which have not been denied, were an "interference" in the country's internal affairs.