Algeria has asked 12 French embassy officials to leave in 48 hours, the French foreign minister said on Monday, adding that this was linked to the arrest of three Algerian nationals in France.
"I am asking Algerian authorities to abandon these expulsion measures... if the decision to send back our officials is maintained, we will have no other choice but to respond immediately," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
The 12 include some members of the French interior ministry, a diplomatic source told AFP.
On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the April 2024 abduction of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.
Chad last month announced its decision to end a defence accord with Paris mainly dating from independence in 1960.
Strained relations
The indictment comes at a delicate time in relations between Algeria and its former colonial power, with Algiers claiming the move was aimed at scuppering recent attempts to repair ties.
Algeria protested on Saturday against France's detention of an Algerian consular agent over an alleged kidnapping of an Algerian citizen in France, the latest tension between the two countries.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said that this unprecedented judicial turn, in the history of two countries' relations, was aimed at disrupting the process of reviving bilateral relations.
French media reported that three people, including an Algerian consular official, were placed under investigation on Friday on suspicion of kidnapping Amir Boukhors, an opponent of the Algerian regime.
Political opposition
Boukhors, known as "Amir DZ", is an opponent of the Algerian government and 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, accusing him of fraud and terror offences.
Algeria said the arrest of Algerian consular official is an "unacceptable, and unjustified development will severely damage Algerian-French relations and affirms its determination not to leave this case without consequences".
Algeria has accused France of launching a disinformation campaign and a diplomatic escalation against Algeria.
The North Africa country described Boukhors as "a saboteur linked to terrorist groups".
Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, last month, an Algerian court sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal to five years in jail for undermining national unity, prompting a call for his freedom from French President Macron.
