While French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez arrived in Algiers on Monday for a two-day visit at the invitation of his Algerian counterpart, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received the head of the Nigerien junta Abdourahamane Tiani, who accuses France of wanting to destabilize his country and of financing terrorists.

Published on: 02/17/2026 - 8:11 p.m. Modified on: 02/17/2026 - 11:26 p.m.

It was time for tensions to ease in Algeria on Monday February 16 and Tuesday February 17, while the authorities received two important partners with whom relations have experienced serious cold spells this past year.

Arriving on Sunday, the military leader of Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani, opened the ball, eleven months after the Malian drone incident – ​​shot down by Algeria near the border between the two countries – which had caused a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Algiers and the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger).

While the head of the Nigerien junta was received on Monday by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez in turn landed in Algiers, welcomed by his Algerian counterpart, to try to begin the thaw of a diplomatic crisis with Algeria having reached a historic peak in 2025.

Many observers have raised the incongruity of these simultaneous visits to Algiers, a few days after new incendiary declarations from Niger towards France, and in particular from its chief of staff, who claimed last Wednesday to be preparing for a war against the former colonizing power.

Internal security, a priority subject for Nunez

Laurent Nunez's visit is part of the "gradual process" mentioned last November by Emmanuel Macron to relaunch the Franco-Algerian relationship.

“In recent months, there have been security contacts, meetings between specialists on traffic and immigration issues,” indicates a source close to the matter. “Based on the conversations, the minister judged that it was the time for him to go to Algiers and respond to his counterpart’s invitation.”

Since France's recognition of the Moroccan nature of Western Sahara, considered a betrayal by Algiers, issues of tension have accumulated, whether it is the expulsion of people under OQTF (obligation to leave French territory), the Boualem Sansal affair (finally released on November 12) or the kidnapping in France of the Algerian influencer Amir DZ, attributed by Paris to the Algerian regime.

The crisis reached an unprecedented level in April with mutual expulsions of diplomats.

Since then, France has changed its Minister of the Interior. Bruno Retailleau, supporter of the standoff with Algiers, gave way to the former prefect of police and director of the DGSI (general directorate of internal security). “A more technical profile, very good knowledge of security issues and less tempted to make Algeria a political issue,” underlines political scientist Hasni Abidi, specialist in Algeria.

Read alsoFrance-Algeria relationship: “What Laurent Nunez does clearly shows the failure of the Retailleau method”

The minister's Algerian agenda included police cooperation, particularly on drug trafficking, the fight against illegal immigration and the return of people under OQTF, as well as the question of visa relaxation, requested by the Algerians. With the Christophe Gleize affair as a backdrop.

The French journalist was sentenced on June 29, 2025 to seven years in prison for “apology of terrorism”.

After the pardon granted to Boualem Sansal, his family hoped to obtain his release during the appeal trial. The confirmation of his initial sentence was seen as a cold shower.

With little compensation, the journalist was transferred at the end of January from Tizi Ouzou prison to Koléa, in the suburbs of Algiers, making visits easier.

“The Christophe Gleizes case is not an issue for negotiation. He will appeal to the cassation and we would then like to be able to obtain a measure of pardon. This subject is discussed discreetly,” indicates the source contacted by France 24.

Read alsoThe mother of Christophe Gleizes asks the Algerian president to pardon her son

Economic and security discussions with Niger

Another encouraging sign of a possible thaw, Laurent Nunez was finally received by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday afternoon. France and Algeria have agreed to relaunch “very high-level security cooperation”, he announced during a brief statement at the end of his two-day visit.

The day before, another visit to the presidential palace had caused much ink to flow, that of the military leader of Niger, Abdourahamane Tiani, invited by Abdelmadjid Tebboune for an official working and friendship visit.

Coming accompanied by a large delegation of 11 ministers, the general had for the occasion swapped his military fatigues for a civilian suit, according to the protocol tradition of official visits to the El Mouradia palace.

A visit during which Abdelmadjid Tebboune relaunched the trans-Saharan gas pipeline project (TGSP), which must cross Niger in order to transport gas extracted in Nigeria to Algeria. The gas pipeline must also supply the Sahel and allow exports to Europe.

Launched at the start of 2025, this project suffered from tensions between Algeria and Mali, in particular from the Malian drone incident, shot down by the Algerian army on April 1, 2025 near the border town of Tin Zaouatine. In response, the three countries of the Alliance of Sahel States recalled their ambassadors to Algiers, denouncing a “premeditated hostile action”.

“Niger had every interest in reconciling with Algeria for energy issues, with the investments of Sonatrach [Algerian state oil and gas company, Editor's note], but also security issues, because the two countries share more than 900 kilometers of common border,” underlines Hasni Abidi.

On February 12, the two countries noted the resumption of their diplomatic relations with the return of their ambassadors to Algiers and Niamey. Three days later, an Algerian delegation was received in Burkina Faso, to strengthen cooperation in the mining and energy sectors.

In his speech, Abdourahamane Tiani praised Algeria's "solidarity" after the military coup of July 2023, recalling that it had opposed the military intervention in Niger, once considered by ECOWAS in order to restore the deposed president Mohamed Bazoum in office, before finally being abandoned.

On the other hand, he refrained from any comment on the quarrel with Bamako, which regularly accuses Algiers of supporting terrorist groups and interference in its internal affairs. Does Niger intend to act as a mediator to resolve the conflict between Algeria and Mali or, on the contrary, distance itself from its ally within the AES? The question remains unanswered for the moment.

Also read "Soudard", "exporter of terrorism": Algeria and Mali are torn apart at the UN

Algeria, intermediary between France and Niger?

If, in Algiers, the time was for reconciliation, General Tiani did not miss the opportunity to reiterate his attacks against France, responsible according to him for having manipulated "certain African leaders" to "carry out war against the Nigerien people". A new charge against Paris, made even as Laurent Nunez was welcomed at Algiers airport by his Algerian counterpart.

“We were not aware of the visit of the Nigerien leader, but everything suggests that it is a pure collision of calendars,” indicates the French diplomatic source contacted by France 24. A busy schedule which could be linked to the start of Ramadan on Thursday, during which official activities are generally reduced, it is indicated.

In recent days, Niger has further hardened its tone towards France, with whom diplomatic channels have been severed since the coup d'état of July 23, 2023. During a nearly five-hour interview broadcast on Friday on Nigerien national television (RTN), General Tiani attributed the attack on Niamey airport, on the night of January 28 to 29, to "mercenaries financed by France", rejecting the claim of the Islamic State group. Two days earlier, his personal chief of staff, General Ibro Amadou Bacharou, declared during a fiery speech at the Niamey stadium "to prepare for war with France".

If the simultaneous visits of the French minister and the Nigerien leader seem to be a coincidence, it is not excluded that Algeria will play an intermediary role between the two countries, analyzes Hasni Abidi. “Certain security issues important to France and Algeria also relate to the security of the Sahel,” underlines the expert. “Niamey's version of the airport attack does not stand up to analysis, because it is not in France's interest to have instability in this area. If the relationship improves between France and Algeria, the latter could be led to pass messages from the French to the Nigerien authorities and vice versa,” he concludes.

Before his trip to Algiers, Laurent Nunez had indicated that "all security issues" would be on the table, including the fight against terrorism in the Sahel and the sharing of intelligence with Algiers.

During the press conference with General Tiani, Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured that he was "in the same camp" as Niger in terms of the fight against terrorism, promising to "cooperate as much as possible by mobilizing all capacities and expertise".

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