French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius visited Algeria recently to discuss bilateral relations and the security situation in Mali. In an email interview, Laurence Aïda Ammour, a research fellow at the Bordeaux Institute for Political Science and a consultant in international security and defense at GéopoliSudconsultance, discussed French-Algerian relations.
WPR: How have relations between France and Algeria evolved over the past decade in terms of trade and diplomatic ties?
Laurence Aïda Ammour: Bilateral relations between France and Algeria have always gone through cycles of crisis. They also depend on personal ties between the leaders of both countries. In 2003, French President Jacques Chirac received a warm and spontaneous welcome in Oran, while his successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, was never popular in Algeria, since he was seen as pro-American.