PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show “mercy and humanity” toward a jailed French-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, the Elysee palace said in a statement.
Macron made the plea during a “long, frank and friendly” phone call covering bilateral ties and “tensions that have accumulated over recent months,” it said.
Macron has repeatedly called for Algeria to release Sansal, citing his fragile state of health due to cancer.
The author was sentenced last Thursday to five years in prison after an interview he gave to a French far-right media outlet was deemed to undermine Algeria’s territorial integrity.
Macron “called for a gesture of mercy and humanity toward Mr.Boualem Sansal, given the age and state of health of the writer,” the Elysee statement said.
According to his French publisher, Sansal is 80 years old.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will visit Algiers on Sunday, at the invitation of the Algerian government, to plan ways to shore up ties, it said.
Sansal’s conviction and sentence further frayed ties between France and Algeria, already strained by migration issues and Macron’s recognition last year of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front.
Sansal, known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well of Islamists, found himself in the dock for saying in the interview that colonial-era France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria.
In Monday’s call, Macron and Tebboune spoke of their willingness to repair relations, and to resume cooperation on security.
They also said that “fluid” migration between the two countries should “immediately” be restored — seeking to soothe tensions after Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
A joint panel of historians plumbing the past between France and Algeria, its former colony that won independence in 1962 after a bloody eight-year conflict, will also get back to work, they said.
The two leaders also agreed in “principle” to meet in person at a future date, the statement said.
Tebboune said a week ago that he viewed Macron as the “only point of reference” for mending French-Algerian ties.
