Are France and Algeria on the brink of a political clash? On Tuesday, France said it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials.

This diplomatic escalation came one day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials and a week after France's public prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings against three Algerians including an employee of the Algerian consulate.

They are suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of Algerian government critic and influencer Amir Boukhors in a Paris suburb in April 2024.

Troubled colonial history

The latest tensions highlight the renewed downward spiral in the relationship between the two countries with the exception of summer 2022, when French-Algerian relations had experienced a temporary high .

Back then, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Algeria and symbolically described his country's former colonial rule there as a "crime against humanity".

"This was a much-noticed historical and political symbol that was not taken for granted in France," political scientist Hasni Abidi from the Geneva Center for the Study and Research of the Arab and Mediterranean World, told DW.

"Even more, it happened more than 60 years after its withdrawal from Algeria," he added.

There had been many deaths on the French side during the colonial period, as well,  especially during the Algerian war of liberation. "This explains why colonialism remains a sensitive issue to this day, all the more so as the French right, especially its extreme wing, refuses to accept Macron's statement," Abidi said.

The Western Sahara conflict

However, French-Algerian relations deteriorated once more when France sided with Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict in summer 2024.

Morocco claims control over the region it annexed in 1975. Algeria, on the other hand, supports the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is seeking independence for Western Sahara.

In protest, Algeria withdrew its ambassador from France in July 2024. "Algeria saw the French move as a form of betrayal," Hasni Abidi said. Algeria was also particularly angered as France's voice carries a lot of weight as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The Boukhors affair

The most recent dispute between the two countries revolves around the Algerian government critic and influencer Amir Boukhors, who became known for his harsh criticism of the Algerian regime under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on social networks.

He has been living in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. The popular influencer, who uses the online name "Amir DZ", has more than 1.1 million followers on the online platform TikTok.

Algerian courts repeatedly convicted him of alleged fraud, threats, defamation and other offenses between 2015 and 2019, according to the newspaper Le Figaro and others.

Algeria also submitted two extradition requests in 2021, including for "membership and affiliation to a terrorist organization."

However, the court of appeal in Paris rejected the extradition requests.

According to French media such as France 24, Boukhors was kidnapped in France in late April 2024 and released a day later. Boukhors' lawyer explained that Algeria had attempted to kidnap his client after the previous arrest warrants had been rejected.

Algeria refuted this claim. The Foreign Ministry spoke of an "intolerable intrigue".

"Algeria is so involved in the affair because it is also stirring up its own population via social media," Robin Frisch, head of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's office in Algiers, told DW.

"Digital media has no borders, and everything Boukhors publishes is also read by Algerians. The Algerian government obviously doesn't like that," he said.

The Sansal affair

French-Algerian relations are also strained due to the arrest and recent conviction of the writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of Islamism and the Algerian regime. The Algerian author with French citizenship was arrested in Algeria in November 2024.

The arrest was prompted by an interview with a YouTube channel considered to be extreme right-wing, in which he stated that part of Algeria's territory historically belonged to Morocco, Algeria's neighbor and rival. In March, the 80-year-old author was sentenced to five years in prison.

"Sansal is close to the political right," observer Hasni Abidi said.

Meanwhile, his arrest has also stirred up a major discussion in France. "The topic is a sensitive one as the vast majority of French people are calling for Sansal's release and President Macron can therefore not afford to ignore it," Abidi added.

In fact, Macron has repeatedly publicly criticized Sansal's arrest in Algeria, and has called for his release in late March.

Domestic pressure

"Macron finds himself in a difficult position with regard to Algeria," says Robin Frisch from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, adding that "the French right is repeatedly calling for tougher action against the government in Algiers, and Macron cannot ignore this in view of the strengthening of the Rassemblement National led by Marine Le Pen."

"That's why his stance towards Algeria is also a means of defending himself against the political right," Frisch explained.

However, in his view, the same is also true for Algeria.

The North African country battles tremendous social and economic problems. According to the business information platform "Germany Trade and Invest," the illiteracy rate is at 19% and the unemployment rate at 12%. Young people are particularly affected by this, having repeatedly rebelled against the government in recent years, especially in the "Hirak" movement.

"In this respect, repeated public disputes with France are also likely to be a means for Algeria's rulers to divert attention away from central domestic problems," Frisch said.

This article was originally published in German.