Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly announced on Thursday (September 10) the official severance of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Algeria accused the authorities in Abu Dhabi of taking a series of “provocative or hostile” actions and emphasized that the means to maintain bilateral relations between the two countries have been “exhausted”.
The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the UAE Ambassador to Algeria on the same day to officially notify him of the decision to sever ties and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.
In response to Algeria’s move, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately issue an official comment. Anwar Gargash, a foreign policy advisor to the UAE President, later posted on the X social media platform. Although not directly naming Algeria, he stressed that successful diplomatic relations should be built on the basis of “rationality, communication, and clear interests” rather than “ambiguous signals that need interpretation”.
In recent years, relations between the two countries have been consistently tense. Algerian media has repeatedly accused the UAE of attempting to stoke regional divisions. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria has previously publicly stated that Algeria has close relations with most Gulf countries, with one exception, accusing that unnamed country of interfering in its internal affairs and intending to destabilize its stability.
According to Reuters, the two countries have sharply contrasting positions on several core regional issues.
Algeria strongly opposes the normalization of relations with Israel, while the UAE signed the “Abraham Accords” in 2020, brokered by the United States, to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
The UAE supports Morocco’s sovereignty claim over Western Sahara and maintains a consulate there, while Algeria firmly supports the independence claim of the Polisario Front.
With several military coups erupting in the Sahel region in recent years, the UAE has been actively expanding its relations with local governments, leading to increasing tensions between Algeria and its southern neighbor. The conflict of interests between Algeria and the UAE has intensified.
In February of this year, Algeria began the process of revoking the air services agreement signed between the two countries in 2013. The severance of diplomatic relations marks the complete rupture between these two important countries in North Africa and the Middle East.