Ties with Algeria ‘back to normal’

Barrot visits Algiers after presidents talk

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ALGIERS: France’s foreign minister said on Sunday that ties with Algeria were back to normal after he held 2.5 hours of talks with Algeria’s president following months of bickering that have hurt Paris’ economic and security interests in its former colony.

Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last year when French President Emmanuel Macron angered Algeria by recognising a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.

A prior relationship has major security, economic and social repercussions: trade is extensive and some 10% of France’s 68 million population has links to Algeria, according to French officials.