French President Emmanuel Macron has called for "more firmness" towards Algeria and announced new measures against the country, marking a new stage in the diplomatic crisis between Algiers and its former colonial power.
In its latest punitive act, Macron said France will suspend visa exemptions for Algerian diplomats and officials, which had been part of a 2013 agreement.
The states have been embroiled in an unprecedented row for over a year, resulting in the expulsion of officials on both sides, the recall of ambassadors and restrictions on officials holding diplomatic visas.
An important source of tension has been the imprisonment by Algeria of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.
An Algerian court handed Sansal a five-year sentence for "undermining the integrity of Algerian territory" over statements made to a far-right media outlet in France, in which Sansal suggested Moroccan territory had been acquired by Algeria during the colonial period.
