Algeria orders 12 French embassy staff to leave the country within 40 hours

​​Algeria has ordered 12 French embassy officials to leave the country within 48 hours, France's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed on Monday.

The decision to expel the officials comes just days after prosecutors in France indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of kidnapping the Algerian influencer Amir Boukhors last year.

Boukhors, who has a large TikTok following, is a critic of the Algerian government, which wants him to return to face trial for alleged fraud and terror offences.

Amir DZ — as he better known online — was abducted last April in a suburb of Paris, before being released the following day, according to his lawyer.

Barrot said the expulsion of diplomats was directly linked to the case of Boukhors, who has lived in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum there in 2023.

"This decision would be a response to the arrest of three Algerian nationals suspected of serious offences on French national territory," Barrot said.

The French foreign minister has urged Algiers to reconsider the expulsions, saying that Paris would be forced to retaliate if it does not.

"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," Barrot said.

Although relations between France and its former colony have long been challenging, tensions worsened dramatically last July when French President Emmanuel Macron recognised the autonomy of Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.

Since then, the countries have clashed over other events including the detention of the French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal in Algiers in November.

Last month, Sansal, 80, was given a five-year prison sentence for allegedly undermining national unity.

Macron has called for his release, calling on the Algerian authorities to demonstrate "common sense and humanity."

There has also been sharp disagreement over France's attempts to deport Algerians it deems a threat.

However, before Algeria's decision to expel French officials, it appeared that relations between the two countries were improving.

Barrot suggested earlier this month that ties were "back to normal" following a call between Macron and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 31 March.