Algeria says envoy's return depends on French respect for Algeria -Ennahar TV

FILE PHOTO: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune arrives for the opening of the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and the Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 9, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

CAIRO (Reuters) - Algerian President Abelmadjid Tebboune said the return of the North African country's ambassador to Paris was conditional on France showing it fully respects Algeria, Ennahar TV reported on Sunday.

Algeria recalled its envoy to Paris last week, citing comments attributed to French President Emmanuel Macron in the newspaper Le Monde that Algeria's rulers had rewritten the history of its colonisation based on "a hatred of France".

The following day, Algeria closed its airspace to French military planes, according to France's military.

"France should forget that Algeria was once a colony," said Tebboune who was speaking in a regular meeting with representatives of the local media.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that he hoped diplomatic tensions with Algeria would soon ease, adding in an interview with France Inter Radio that he had "very cordial" relations with Algeria's President.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Ahmad Elhamy; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)