Diplomacy. "The Algerians send back our agents, we send back theirs": an eye for an eye, Paris imitates Algiers

It's like a game of ping-pong. France has summoned the Algerian chargé d'affaires in Paris to denounce Algiers' "unjustified and unjustifiable" decision to expel French officials and to inform him that Paris would retaliate by sending back Algerian diplomats, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on Wednesday.

"Our response is immediate, firm, and strictly proportionate at this stage, with the same request, namely the return to Algeria of all agents holding diplomatic passports who do not currently have visas," the minister said on BFMTV, without specifying their number. "The Algerians wanted to send our agents back. We are sending theirs back," he added.

Algeria summoned the chargé d'affaires of the French embassy in Algiers on Sunday to notify him of further expulsions of French officials from Algerian territory who were on temporary reinforcement missions, in a new episode of the deep diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued a statement formalizing this request, which was announced by a dispatch from the Algerian Press Agency (APS) according to which the French employees had been appointed under "irregular conditions."

According to the Quai d'Orsay, the expulsion of French officials was based on a "unilateral decision by the Algerian authorities to establish new conditions of access to Algerian territory for French public officials holding an official, diplomatic or service passport, in violation of the 2013 bilateral agreement."

Jean-Noël Barrot said he "absolutely" deplored these decisions by the Algerian authorities. "They contravene the agreements that govern the relationship between our two countries; they are obviously not in France's interest, but they are also clearly not in the interest of the Algerians," he said.