Xavier Triancourt, the former French ambassador to Algeria, recently granted permission An interview with Journal du Dimanche There he recalled his mandate in Algeria. He specifically addressed the tense relations between Algeria and Morocco, revealing that Algerian leaders felt overly jealous of the neighboring kingdom.
Triancourt, who was stationed in Algiers between 2008 and 2012, then from 2017 to 2020, recalled a meeting between President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and President Emmanuel Macron, where Bouteflika showed extreme jealousy towards Morocco.
“He is no longer the majestic, all-powerful Bouteflika, he has his whole head, the one I knew when I first stayed, when he got all the French politicians: right, left. He couldn’t stand the fact that the French were so friendly with the king of Morocco. It drove him crazy,” declares the ex-ambassador.
This jealousy also surfaced during a meeting with journalist Jean-Pierre Elgabach, where Bouteflika was embarrassed by Jacques Chirac’s frequent stays in Morocco. His frequent stays in Morocco and his intimate relationship with the King made us terribly jealous. He continues.
He recalled that Bouteflika did not stop trying to challenge him in his relations with Morocco, making revelations reminiscent of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s in his book “The Time of Storms”.
