Tunis (AFP)

The broadcasting on French television of documentaries on the anti-regime movement ("Hirak") in Algeria sparked the wrath of Algiers and yet another diplomatic coup with the former colonial power, against a background of increased distrust of foreign media.

Algiers decided Wednesday to recall "immediately" for consultations its ambassador in Paris, Salah Lebdioui, for "consultations" following the programming the day before in prime time of the two films, "Algérie Mon Amour" (2020) and "Algérie: Les Promesses de l'Aube "(2019), respectively on France 5 and La Chaîne Parlementaire (LCP).

For Algiers, it is a "neocolonial" cabal orchestrated in Paris.

"The recurrent nature of programs broadcast by French public television channels (...), seemingly spontaneous and under the pretext of freedom of expression, are in fact attacks against the Algerian people and their institutions" including army, said the foreign ministry in a statement.

"Algérie Mon Amour", from the French journalist and director of Algerian origin Mustapha Kessous, raised lively exchanges on social networks as soon as it was broadcast.

Paradoxically, this documentary displeased supporters of "Hirak", speaking of "betrayal" as much as Algerian leaders, on the defensive and powerless to control the internet.

- "Slaves of France" -

It has created divisions - generational and socio-cultural - that stir up a plural protest movement without leadership.

The film presents without taboos (in particular sexual) the testimonies of five young people - three men and two women from Algiers, Oran and Tizi Ouzou - who took part in the "Hirak", the popular uprising which shook the Algerian power for more than a year until suspended due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

He also attracted the wrath of Abderezzak Mokri, president of the main Islamist party, who lambasted on Twitter "the slaves of France in Algeria".

The public group France Télévisions, of which France 5 is one of the channels, and the director refuse to comment.

"This activism where enmity disputes it with resentment, reveals the malicious and lasting intentions of certain circles which do not wish the advent of peaceful relations between Algeria and France", accused Algiers.

Already in early April, the French ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt, had been summoned to Foreign Affairs after statements made by a speaker on the international channel France 24, about Chinese medical aid, words which had greatly displeased to the Algerian authorities.

The ambassador then replied that "all the press organs enjoy complete editorial independence in France, protected by law".

- Recurrent tension -

"The Algerian regime pretends to believe that, as in Algeria, the public audiovisual sector would be in France under the orders of political power," said historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor at Sciences Po Paris.

"The diplomatic crisis which he thus artificially created is part of a methodical campaign to block the media field and stifle critical voices," he analyzes.

These recurrent controversies illustrate the volatile, if not tumultuous, nature of relations between Algiers and Paris, fueled by tensions and misunderstandings since independence in 1962.

To the point that some are trying to play down: "I don't think that a short report will start a war between the two countries. It will continue, as usual, with ups and downs. It is a storm in a glass of water, "says political scientist Mohamed Hennad.

After the launching of the "Hirak" in February 2019, Algiers had badly taken statements from French President Emmanuel Macron who had called for "a transition of a reasonable duration", remarks then interpreted as "an interference in the affairs" of the 'Algeria. Bilateral relations had de facto stalled for a year.

And at the beginning of the year, the new president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, as soon as elected, had demanded "mutual respect" in bilateral relations, recalling that "Algeria is not a private preserve of France".

This new episode is part of a climate of repression against opponents, journalists - some are in prison - and independent media.

Determined to prevent any resurgence of the "Hirak", the authorities have blocked in recent weeks several online news sites accused of being funded by "foreign organizations".

No accreditation, compulsory for work, was renewed in 2020 for permanent correspondents of foreign media in Algiers.

© 2020 AFP