The Algerian government has banned French military planes from its airspace, the French army said on Sunday, amid reports of critical comments from President Emmanuel Macron.
Algeria’s airspace is regularly filled with French jets as they pass over to reach the Sahel region, where French forces are deployed against jihadist insurgents.
“This morning when we filed flight plans for two planes, we learned that the Algerians had stopped flights over their territory by French military planes,” an army spokesman, Colonel Pascal Ianni, told AFP.
He said the decision “does not affect our operations or intelligence missions” carried out in the Sahel.
The move comes after Algeria recalled its ambassador to France for “inadmissible interference” in its affairs, further increasing tensions between the two countries.
French and Algerian media reported that Macron told descendants of figures in Algeria’s independence war that the North African country was ruled by “political-military system” and had “totally re-written its history.”
Macron’s comments fueled the fire started by France’s announcement last week that it would sharply reduce the number of visas granted to Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian citizens.
France maintains that the decision was made necessary by Algeria’s failure to do enough to allow illegal migrants in France to be returned home.
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