Bis repeated.

Emmanuel Macron is going to Algeria for the second time in his term from August 25 to 27, responding favorably to the invitation of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

A long official visit of three days and two nights to Algiers and Oran.

Its goal ?

In diplomatic jargon, this new presidential trip aims "to deepen the bilateral relationship looking to the future for the benefit of the populations of the two countries, to strengthen Franco-Algerian cooperation in the face of regional issues and to continue the work of appeasing memories " , we advance on the side of the Élysée. 

On the program, visit to the Saint-Eugène cemetery on the outskirts of Algiers, a very large Christian and Jewish cemetery in the presence of the Archbishop of Algiers and the Chief Rabbi of France Haim Korsia, meeting with artists, in Oran.

Between the two, many thorny issues to tackle.

The two countries hope to put an end to the tensions that culminated in recent months with the recall of the Algerian ambassador in October 2021 after remarks by the French president on the Algerian "politico-military" system and the Algerian nation.

The former French ambassador to Algeria Xavier Driencourt does not see all the same "not much interest in such a visit at present".

"There is no recent change in relations with Algeria, he underlines to AFP. There should still be gestures from Algiers on a certain number of our requests that are consular laissez-passer, economic affairs." 

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Energy crisis versus security in the Sahel  

This is to forget a little too quickly the shortage of oil and gas which is likely to weigh on France in the months to come.

The rigors of winter could have given a serious boost to France's attempts at reconciliation.

"As you have to find partners to supply yourself with hydrocarbons, Algeria is a good store", bluntly cowardly Farid DMS Debah, founder of the citizen movement for Algeria, who says he expects nothing from this visit.  

Algeria, the third supplier of natural gas for Europe behind Russia and Norway, and ahead of Qatar, according to Eurostat figures, already supplies Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Sonatrach, the Algerian public oil and gas giant, announced at the beginning of the year that it wanted to invest 40 billion dollars between 2022 and 2026 in the exploration, production and refining of gas.

But currently, the country's gas volumes remain limited.

And "in this period of war in Ukraine, Algeria does not lack customers. France has more interest in procuring gas than Algeria has to sell it."

For its part, "Algeria cannot ignore a good agreement with Paris either," said AFP Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for 

The war in Ukraine on the table of discussions 

Other concerns justify this presidential trip.

The subject of the war waged by Russia in Ukraine could be broached by France.

Because Algeria considers with "too great neutrality" its proximity to Moscow, according to a French diplomatic source.

The battle for visas will also be at the center of discussions: Paris has decided to reduce the issue of visas since Algiers refuses to take back nationals expelled by France.

And naturally, the question of memory which continues to poison relations. 

The period, particularly rich in commemoration, is conducive to rapprochement.

The two Nations celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Évian Accords (March 18, 1962), which put an end to more than seven years of war between Algerian insurgents and the French army, and that of the independence of Algeria (July 5, 1962) after 132 years of French colonization.

On this last point, Emmanuel Macron maintains the cursor on the duty of historical truth, provided that it is mutual, seeking to avoid any repentance which would exacerbate tensions within French society.

During his previous trip to Algiers in February 2017, Emmanuel Macron, then candidate for the Élysée, had described colonization as a "crime against humanity", raising hopes of repentance in Algeria.  

Memory still at the heart of tensions

This time, the president will not make the trip alone.

Within the French Areopagus, young bearers of the Franco-Algerian memory met several times in its approach work, grandchildren of FLN fighters, harkis or French soldiers.

Algerian historian Benjamin Stora, whose report on the "reconciliation of memories" serves as a manual for the Head of State, will be on the trip, as will Arab world expert Jean-Pierre Filiu and the Islamologist Gilles Kepel.

Other invited personalities, the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Chems-Eddine Mohamed Hafiz, and the chief rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, whose parents were born respectively in Tlemcen and Oran.

The latter, born in France and who has never known the country of his parents, would then be the first Jewish religious figure within an official delegation to visit Algeria.

“Emmanuel Macron has every interest in making a strong gesture vis-à-vis Algeria, continues Farid DMS Debah. We can clearly see the fiasco that is playing out before our eyes in Algeria and in French-speaking Africa in general. ground in an incredible way. The paternalism, always felt within the former French colonies, persists. It is therefore not surprising that the continent is turning to China and Russia which, for their part, 

The call of the Algerian diaspora  

Thirteen organizations from the Algerian diaspora are also awaiting comments from Emmanuel Macron on "the current state of human rights in Algeria".

"Nearly ten thousand arrests followed by at least a thousand abusive pre-trial detentions in violation of the criminal code have been to the credit of this regime since the beginning" of the Hirak pro-democracy demonstrations (launched in February 2019) which shook power , denounce these organizations in an open letter to the French president.

Today, "the few achievements obtained at the cost of decades of struggle and civic engagement (...) on freedom of expression, organization, demonstration, press and political activity are clearly declining, even disappearing", continue the signatory organizations. 

Not sure that the Head of State is embarking on this subject, given the already strained relations.

"We don't really expect much from us, concludes Farid DMS Debah, of the citizen movement for Algeria. At the start of the Hirak, the movement had already written an open letter to Emmanuel Macron asking him to position himself in relation to to the disastrous policy in Algeria at that time. We had obtained a dead letter." 

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