In his first public remarks since he was released by Algeria and returned to France, Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal said Sunday that diplomatic tension between the two countries was likely the cause of his arrest, and that he had always sought “reconciliation” between the two.
“I have always been in favour of reconciliation between France and Algeria,” Boualem Sansal said on France 2 pubic television Sunday night, suggesting that the two countries had “missed the boat” after the former colony’s independence in 1962.
“Sixty years have passed, and we are still using the language of the war of liberation,” he said, confirming to journalist Laurent Delahousse that he continues to hold back on what he says because of diplomatic considerations.
Measuring his words
“I am not speaking to you naturally, because naturally I am rather exuberant; here I’m controlling each of my words,” he said, evoking the impact of his comments on the “several dozen political prisoners”, in particular the detained sports journalist Christophe Gleizes whose appeal is set for 3 December.
Sansal said he is also worried about the safety of his family if he returns to Algeria.
“If I return to Algeria with my wife, I’m afraid that this time they may also arrest my wife,” he said.
'War' between France and Algeria
He said France’s positions on Western Sahara partly motivated his arrest.
At the end of July 2024, France officially backed a plan for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for Western Sahara, a territory in which Algeria backs the Polisario Front that is seeking an independent state.
“Everything started from there,” Sansal said, claiming that this triggered “a war” between France and Algeria.
In October 2024, Sansal told a far-right French media outlet that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period, and in March Algeria sentenced him to five years in prison for undermining its territorial integrity.
He said he had spoken in prison with “a very authoritarian man”, whom he believed to be a member “of the secret services” or “a very important figure”, who asked him whether he would continue his “criticisms of Algeria” if he were released.
“I said, ‘Sir, I have never criticised Algeria; I criticise a regime, I criticise people, I criticise a dictatorship’,”
Return to France
Boualem Sansal’s return to the media has been carefully orchestrated. In addition to appearing on television, he has spoken to Le Figaro and will be a guest on France Inter’s morning programme on Monday.
In the daily Le Figaro newspaper , he explained that he had written “at least ten times” to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to request his release.
Tebboune pardoned Sansal on 12 November after Germany intervened on his behalf, and Sansal returned to France last week from Berlin, where he had been receiving medical treatment.
Asked about his relationship with the former French interior minister Bruno Retailleau, Sansal said he was his “friend”, even though he admitted that Retailleau, known for his tough stance towards Algeria, may have been “in a certain sense” an obstacle to his release.
“But with or without Bruno Retailleau, they would have reacted in the same way with anyone,” he said.
(with AFP)
