(MENAFN) Algeria has annulled a ten-year-old pact that allowed French diplomatic and service passport holders to travel without visas.

This move is a response to what Algeria described as France’s “provocation, intimidation, and bargaining” amid worsening diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Paris had informed Algiers about suspending the 2013 Algeria-France agreement, which exempted holders of diplomatic and official passports from visa obligations.

During a summoned meeting, a senior official from the French embassy received two notes verbales, one of which condemned France’s decision.

“This denunciation goes beyond the simple suspension previously notified by the French side and definitively puts an end to the very existence of this agreement,” the ministry declared.

Furthermore, the ministry emphasized that “It [Algiers] reserves the right to apply to the issuance of these visas the same conditions as those set by the French Government for Algerian nationals. This is a strict application of the principle of reciprocity.”

Tensions between Paris and its former colony started to intensify in July 2024, following French President Emmanuel Macron’s endorsement of a disputed Moroccan autonomy plan concerning Western Sahara.

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