After False, Hate Statements Against Algeria, French Amb. Summoned

The  Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Algeria summoned the French ambassador, Xavier Driencourt, in protest against statements given on a French state-owned  channel, describing them as "false" and “against the Algerian authorities on combating the corona virus.

The French ambassador to Algeria has been summoned Tuesday by Foreign Affairs minister who informed him of Algeria’s strong protests following the false, hate and defamatory statements against Algeria, made recently in a channel of the French public television, said a communiqué of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Monday, The French “France24” TV hosted a French researcher named Francis Gillas, who claimed that the Algerian authorities had transferred aid from China to counter the corona virus in Algeria to a military hospital in the capital, and alleged that the government of Algeria does not care about its citizens.

Algeria’s Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum asked the French ambassador "to transfer this protest to the highest authorities in his country (...) because this channel insists on tarnishing Algeria's image at a time when all efforts should be focused on fighting the Corona pandemic,” according to the Algerian foreign ministry’s statement.

The statement added that the Algerian embassy in Paris had been informed of “filing a lawsuit against this TV channel.”

As of Tuesday evening, Algeria had recorded 716 cases of the novel corona virus, known as COVID-19, including 44 deaths, while France recorded more than 52,000 infections, including more than 3,500 deaths.

Altogether, the virus has infected 841,000 people in 199 countries and territories, over 41,000 of whom have died, while more than 176 have recovered.

In a related context, the European Union excluded Algeria -to date– from financial aid which it granted to Tunisia and Morocco for fighting the spread of the new Corona virus, which has made the old continent more vulnerable to this epidemic.

It’s noteworthy that Algeria is linked with the European Union by an association agreement that entered into force in 2005, during which Algeria incurred a loss of billions of dollars due to the lack of parity in its terms.