After year away, France returns ambassador to Algeria: What to know
France and Algeria have made efforts to improve ties recently, with the strain resulting from disagreements over Western Sahara and their shared colonial past.
France’s ambassador returned to Algeria on Friday and a senior French defense official held cooperation talks with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday, setting the stage for improved ties between the two countries after more than a year.
What happened: Ambassador Stephane Romatet returned to Algiers on Friday, more than a year after he was recalled. He was accompanied by French Deputy Armed Forces Minister Alice Rufo, who attended ceremonies that day marking the 1945 repression of mainly Algerian Muslim protesters by French colonial forces, France 24 reported.
À la demande du Président de la République, je me suis rendue à Sétif, avec l’Ambassadeur de France en Algérie, pour commémorer les événements tragiques du 8 mai 1945. Nous avons été chaleureusement accueillis par le Ministre des Moudjahidines et des Ayants droit ainsi que par le… pic.twitter.com/MSxrAvQhF4
— Alice Rufo (@RufoAlice) May 8, 2026
Rufo and Tebboune held talks on Saturday and the French official described them as “constructive,” the official Algeria Press Service reported. Rufo also met with Algerian military chief of staff Gen. Said Chengriha and discussed ways to increase military cooperation, the Algerian Ministry of National Defense said. She posted on X that she also met with Algerian students on Sunday.
Romatet was recalled in April of last year during a diplomatic spat between France and Algeria.
