Twenty-seven Algerian nationals from the United Kingdom have been stranded at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris for three weeks.
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The group, which includes two young children and a 75-year-old woman, took off from London Heathrow airport on February 26 to reach Algeria via Paris.
Algerian nationals have since been stranded at Charles de Gaulle airport, Algeria having decided to suspend its flights due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
They have been living for three weeks in the transit area of Terminal 2, sleeping on seats or on the floor.
According to the statement released Thursday by the Algerian embassy in Paris, relayed by the Algerian daily
Le Soir
, the passengers had however been informed, before their departure from London, of the cancellation of their Paris-Algiers plane ticket.
They still wanted to go to Paris.
The embassy specifies that "
the Algerian consul in Créteil, in the presence of the representative of Air Algeria in Paris, has met several times, since March 2, 2021, certain members of this group to discuss their situation and the need to return to their places of residence while awaiting the reopening of the borders
”.
For its part, Air Algérie offered them to leave for London, but the travelers refused.
One of the passengers in the group, interviewed by the BBC, explains that they all had negative tests and that they all had good reasons to return to Algeria: “
I returned my apartment in England and I resigned from my work,
”he told our British colleagues
.
The company covered the costs of catering for the passengers for fifteen days.
The BBC says they now only benefit from food offered by other travelers.
On social networks, the Algerian community in France calls on Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, asking him to intervene to help its nationals.
The Algerian emergency accommodation platform Touisa-Dz launched on March 17 a "
solemn appeal to the Algerian high authorities
", urging them "
to intervene as soon as possible
" to resolve this situation.
According to the BBC, Aéroports de Paris intends to do its best to help the group of Algerians but indicates that the resolution of the situation is the responsibility of the Algerian authorities.
For a year now, Algeria has been pursuing a very strict border policy in an attempt to contain the Covid-19 epidemic.
The decision to close the borders until further notice, taken by the Algerian Council of Ministers on February 28, 2021, has thus blocked tens of thousands of Algerians abroad.
