PARIS, April 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Tensions flared between France and Algeria on Monday after the former French colony ordered 12 French officials to leave in 48 hours.

Algeria's foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata after the arrest in France of an Algerian consular official, a "vile act" it blamed on French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

It defended the decision as "sovereign" and described the arrest of its official as "the consequence of the negative, distressing and constant attitude of the French minister of the interior toward Algeria".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had earlier said the expulsion orders were linked to the arrest of three Algerian nationals in France.

"I am asking Algerian authorities to abandon these expulsion measures," Barrot said, adding: "If the decision to send back our officials is maintained, we will have no other choice but to respond immediately."

The 12 include some members of the French interior ministry, a diplomatic source told AFP.

For decades, ties between France and Algeria have gone through diplomatic upheavals, and Monday's row comes at a delicate time in relations and underscores the difficulties in repairing ties.

Despite the new tensions, French diplomatic sources said that "contacts are being maintained" and that Paris would like to "return to an easing of tensions" with Algeria.

Earlier this month, Barrot visited Algeria on a fence-mending trip after months of tensions that had brought the two countries to the brink of a diplomatic breakdown.

After a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the visit, Barrot said both countries wanted to "rebuild a partnership of equals".

On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the 2024 abduction of an opponent of the Algerian regime, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.

The men, who are also being prosecuted for "terrorist" conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.

- 'Rotten arguments' -

The indictment comes at a sensitive time between the two countries, with Algiers claiming the move was aimed at scuppering recent attempts to repair ties.

Boukhors, an influencer known by the nickname "Amir DZ", has more than a million followers on TikTok.

He has been in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. He was abducted in April 2024 and released the following day, according to his lawyer.

Algiers is demanding the influencer's return to face trial, having issued nine international arrest warrants against him on accusations of fraud and "terror" offences. France has refused to extradite him.

On Saturday, the Algerian foreign ministry denounced "rotten arguments" by the French interior ministry and criticised an "unacceptable judicial conspiracy", referring to the arrest of its consular agent.

Boukhors, 41, has been the target of two attacks, in 2022 and in 2024 on the day of his abduction in the southern suburbs of Paris, according to his lawyer Eric Plouvier.

The Algerian foreign ministry also warned that the incident would cause "great damage to Algerian-French relations".

Relations between Paris and Algiers came under strain last year when France recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria has long backed the pro-independence Polisario Front.

Relations soured further when Algeria arrested the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November on national security charges, after he told a French far-right media outlet that Morocco's territory was truncated in favour of Algeria during French colonial rule.

In March, an Algerian court sentenced him to five years in jail.

The latest spike in tensions sparked criticism from right-wing politicians in France.

"Brilliant results of Emmanuel Macron's strategy of appeasement," Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally party, said on X, denouncing what he called Barrot's "prostrations" in Algeria.