France will expel 12 agents serving in the Algerian consular and diplomatic network in France and will recall its ambassador to Algiers for consultations, the French presidency said on Tuesday. The move comes after Algeria's decided to expel 12 French consular staff members. Algeria protested France's detention of an Algerian consular agent suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an Algerian opposition activist. 
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France's relations with Algeria, a former colony, have long been complicated, but took a turn for the worse last year when President Emmanuel Macron supported Morocco's position over that of Algeria over the disputed Western Sahara region. But only last week, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had said that ties between the two countries were returning to normal.
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The order was in response to charges filed in France on Friday against an Algerian consular official, accused with two other Algerians of taking part in the kidnap of an opposition dissident in the Paris suburbs a year ago. Algiers chose to see the arrest of the official as "a flagrant contravention of the immunities and privileges that attach to his (diplomatic) functions".

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According to the official Algerian state-run news agency APS: "This unprecedented judicial incident... has not come about by chance. Its purpose is to scupper the relaunch of bilateral relations agreed by the two heads of state."

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