Former French ambassador sues ministry over racial discrimination
France’s former ambassador to Andorra is suing the foreign affairs ministry for racial discrimination, he announced on Wednesday. Zaïr Kedadouche resigned from his post in March, later saying he had suffered “the most abject racism”.
Issued on: Modified:
“After all the suffering, injuries and vexations … I am entering into dissidence,” Kedadouche told a press conference. “France is not racist but a small elite of the French state does not like people of immigrant origin, from 93 [a poor area near Paris], have played football.”
Kedadouche is a former professional footballer born in northern France to parents of Algerian origin, who went on to become a local councillor and then a civil servant.
Having worked at the French consulate in Liège in Belgium, he was named ambassador to the principality of Andorra in 2012.
Last month he went public with charges of racism in the French civil service and his lawyer, Laurent Hincker, says that a legal complaint was filed on 22 May.
Following his statements, anti-racist campaign SOS Racisme has called for a public inquiry into social and racial discrimination in the civil service and public broadcasting.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe