Algeria says cutting diplomatic ties with UAE

Algeria says it has decided ⁠to cut diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates after what it described as a series of “provocative or hostile” actions by Abu Dhabi despite “repeated warnings”.

Algeria’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that ⁠the UAE’s actions had reached a point where they could no longer be considered acceptable and that it had “exhausted all means of preserving bilateral relations.”

It said the Emirati ambassador had been summoned to the ministry, informed of the decision and given 48 hours to comply.

There was no immediate comment from the UAE.

Relations between the two countries have come under growing strain in recent years, and Algiers and Abu Dhabi have taken differing positions on several regional issues.

Algeria opposes normalisation with Israel, while the UAE and Algeria’s regional rival Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel under the United States-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.

The two countries are also on opposing sides of the decades-old Western Sahara dispute. The UAE supports Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the territory where it has a consulate, while Algeria backs the Polisario Front, which seeks an independent Western Sahara.

The two countries’ interests have increasingly intersected in the Sahel, where the UAE has expanded ties with several governments in recent years, while Algeria’s relations with some of its southern neighbours have become strained following a series of military coups.

Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune has often referred to the UAE in speeches as a “micro-state” or “statelet” seeking to destabilise several countries in the region.

“Wherever they set foot, blood flows,” he said in a televised interview in July, adding that the UAE has had a “very negative impact”.

“We want them to stay away, so that blood does not flow in our country,” he added.

At the time, Tebboune said a diplomatic break “would have happened long ago” had Algeria not sought to avoid “deepening divisions” in the Arab world.