French President Emmanuel Macron said that France and Britain will launch a workshop to coordinate security guarantees for Ukraine with the involvement of the United States. 
He made the remarks after a video conference of about 30 countries in the "Coalition of the Willing," joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Macron said the coming days would be used to define the contributions of the parties ready to provide guarantees once a ceasefire is reached. 

France and other European Union members are also working on a plan to provide financial support for Ukraine, Macron said. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Macron told the RTL broadcast that France could consider sending troops to Ukraine as part of "reassurance forces" alongside British and Turkish units after a ceasefire. However, he stressed that "the first security guarantee" for Ukraine remains the Ukrainian army.

 

 

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa later this week, French newspaper Journal du Dimanche reported, citing sources.

While tensions between France and Algeria remain high, Macron will meet with Tebboune this upcoming weekend on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the newspaper said on Tuesday. The G20 summit will take place in Johannesburg on November 22-23. Relations between Paris and Algiers have deteriorated sharply. In late 2024, award-winning Algerian author Boualem Sansal, who obtained French citizenship in 2024, was detained in Algeria. 

In late March, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,800) for allegedly attacking national unity, participating in actions that harm the Algerian economy and distributing videos that threaten the country's security and stability. Macron urged Algeria to release Sansal, but his call was considered an interference in Algeria's internal affairs by the country's foreign ministry. 

On Tuesday, Sansal’s support committee announced that the Franco-Algerian writer has returned to France, a week after being pardoned by the Algerian government. Sansal had been staying in Germany following his release. Journal du Dimanche reported on Tuesday that the upcoming meeting between Macron and his Algerian counterpart is expected to mark the beginning of a thaw in relations between the two countries. 

The crisis in relations between France and Algeria arose after Paris recognised Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, while Algeria demands a referendum on the territory's self-determination. In early October 2024, Algerian export-import licensing agency Algex informed companies that it would no longer issue permits for products imported from France and urged them to seek alternative suppliers. 

 

 

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