France sends ambassador back to Algeria in bid to ease tensions
France has returned its ambassador to Algeria in an effort to repair strained relations between the two countries.
The envoy had been recalled more than a year ago after ties worsened over France's backing of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
French Deputy Armed Forces Minister Alice Rufo arrived in Sétif, in eastern Algeria, on Friday for ceremonies marking the 1945 repression of mainly Muslim Algerian protesters by French colonial troops.
She was accompanied by ambassador Stéphane Romatet, who is resuming his post in Algeria.
The move is being presented as a sign of rapprochement between Paris and Algiers.
The Élysée said it reflected a determination to address relations with honesty, while respecting the memories connected to them, and to restore effective dialogue.
The visit matters because relations have been fraught since 2024, when France officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.
Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front, making the issue a central source of tension.
The 1945 crackdown in Sétif remains a sensitive historical issue in Algeria.
