Algeria summoned the French ambassador to Algiers, Stéphane Romatet, on Thursday to express its dissatisfaction with the Franco-Moroccan military exercise named “CHERGUI 2025,” scheduled to take place in Errachidia, a city located in eastern Morocco near the Algerian-Moroccan border, which has been closed for decades. According to Lounès Magramane, Secretary-General of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this exercise constitutes a “provocative act” toward Algeria, likely to exacerbate the already tense relations between Algiers and Paris.
The choice of the name “CHERGUI” – an easterly wind in the Maghreb region – and the location of the exercise in Errachidia, close to Algerian territory, appear to have heightened Algiers’ concerns. The Algerian ministry warned that this initiative risks escalating “the climate of tensions between the two countries to a higher level of severity,” in a context where Algerian-French relations have been strained by several recent disputes.