France returns ambassador to Algeria to mend diplomatic ties

France returned its ambassador to Algeria on May 8, 2026, more than a year after his recall, as Paris seeks to ease tensions over its backing of Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara.

Ambassador Stéphane Romatet arrived in Algiers alongside French Deputy Armed Forces Minister Alice Rufo, who landed in Setif, eastern Algeria, on Friday to attend ceremonies marking the 1945 repression of mainly Muslim Algerian protesters by French colonial troops. The 1945 crackdown led by French General Raymond Duval left as many as 45,000 people dead, according to Algerian figures.

The Élysée said the visit reflected the "determination to address relations between France and Algeria with honesty, while respecting all the memories connected to them" and to "restore an effective dialogue."

Ties between France and Algeria have been fraught since 2024, when Paris officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front in the territory. Romatet was recalled in April 2025 following Algeria's expulsion of 12 French diplomats.

Friday's visit is the second trip to Algeria by a French cabinet minister in less than three months, following Interior Minister Laurent Nunez's visit in February 2026 — the first high-level ministerial visit since April 2025.

The Élysée statement said the return of French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes will be at the heart of renewed dialogue. Gleizes, 37, was arrested in May 2024 while travelling to northeastern Algeria's Kabylia region to write about the country's most decorated football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie. In June last year, he was sentenced to seven years in jail for "glorifying terrorism" after being accused of having been in contact with a member of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), a foreign-based group that Algiers has designated a terrorist organisation. His family said last week Gleizes had withdrawn his appeal to Algeria's highest court, a move seen as opening the way for a presidential pardon.

Socialist deputy Belkhir Belhaddad, former president of the France-Algeria friendship group, said: "This is the only possible way to restore a serene relationship between our two countries."