Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ramtane Lamamra, reiterated on Wednesday Algeria’s participation in the Paris Conference on Libya, and this without personal presence of President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, as conditions haven’t been met.
“Conditions are not met to enable participation of President Tebboune, despite his commitment to Algeria’s active role and support to the Libyan brothers and to the desired peaceful and democratic settlement of the Libyan issue,” said the Algerian head of diplomacy at a press conference held at the end of the Conference of Heads of Algerian Diplomatic and Consular Missions at the Palais des Nations in Algiers.
“There is a continuous diplomatic action and a will on the part of Libyan brothers for Algeria to actively participate in the Paris conference, a few weeks before the elections scheduled in Libya,” he added.
In this regard, Lamamra recalled that Algeria, which chairs the meeting of Libya’s neighbors, will ensure coordination among them.
“In fact, the ministerial meeting of Libya’s neighboring countries has largely contributed to the reunification of Libyans’ ranks, said Lamamra, noting the acceleration of the pace of Algerian-Libyan consultations.
“Algeria will be present and is ready to coordinate with neighboring countries and cooperate with the Libyan delegation,” he added.
In this regard, the Elysée Palace had said on Tuesday in a statement that “President Macron has the greatest respect for Algeria, its nation, history and sovereignty.”
“President Macron regrets the disputes and misunderstandings with Algeria and hopes that President Tebboune will participate in the Paris Conference on Libya scheduled to take place on Friday,” the Elysée added in its statement.
“Unlike the previous statement at the origin of the crisis between the two countries, the present statement carries reasonable ideas, as it respects the history, past, present and sovereignty of Algeria,” commented the head of Algerian diplomacy.
Algeria is an important actor with a positive role in the region, he added.
No one is unaware that “bilateral relations are complicated, given the history, geography and the presence of a large Algerian community in France, a community to which Algeria attaches great importance, in addition to the issue of memory,” said Lamamra regarding the crisis between the two countries.
“Algeria’s policy is entirely independent. Therefore, it cannot be influenced by foreign countries’ positions,” he said.
“Since independence, relations between Algeria and France have gone through several crises,” he concluded.
Source APS