Algeria has officially severed diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), citing what it described as a series of increasingly provocative and hostile actions by Abu Dhabi despite repeated warnings.

 The Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that all avenues for preserving relations between the two countries had been exhausted and that the decision to cut diplomatic ties took effect on Thursday.

“Faced with the increasing provocative and hostile actions of the UAE, Algeria has acted with great restraint and a high sense of responsibility,” the ministry said, stressing that it had made every effort to warn the UAE of the serious consequences that could arise from what it described as unjustified actions.

The ministry said Algeria had repeatedly drawn the UAE’s attention to what it considered unacceptable conduct and had sought to address the dispute in accordance with the principles governing relations between sovereign states.

However, it said the UAE had continued with the actions in question despite those warnings.

“These actions have crossed the limits that can no longer be accepted, tolerated or left without response within the framework of relations between two sovereign states,” the statement said.

UAE ambassador given 48 hours to leave

As part of the decision, the UAE ambassador in Algiers was summoned to the Algerian Foreign Ministry on Thursday to formally notify him of the severance of diplomatic relations.

The ambassador was given 48 hours to leave Algeria, according to the ministry.

The move represents a major escalation in a relationship that has deteriorated steadily in recent years. Reuters reported that the two countries have increasingly found themselves on opposing sides of several regional issues, including the Western Sahara dispute and competition for influence in the Sahel.

Algeria supports the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara dispute, while the UAE has backed Morocco’s position on the territory. The growing strategic partnership between the UAE and Morocco has been viewed with concern in Algiers.

The two countries have also competed for influence across parts of Africa, particularly in the Sahel, where Algeria has traditionally sought to maintain a significant political and security role.

Tensions escalated earlier this year

Relations deteriorated further in February, when Algeria began procedures to terminate a bilateral air services agreement with the UAE that was signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013 and ratified by presidential decree in December 2014.

The Algerian government did not initially give a specific reason for the move. Under the agreement, the UAE was to be formally notified through diplomatic channels, while the International Civil Aviation Organization was also to be informed.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority said at the time that the termination procedure did not immediately affect flights between the two countries, noting that the agreement would remain in force during the legally required notice period.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had previously indicated that relations with one Gulf country were particularly strained, while describing ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as strong. He had also accused the unnamed Gulf state of interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs and seeking to destabilize the country. Reuters identified the country as the UAE.

Dispute linked to regional realignment

The diplomatic rift has broader regional dimensions.

Algeria has been strongly opposed to the UAE’s normalization of relations with the Israeli regime under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The subsequent strengthening of ties between the UAE and Morocco further deepened Algeria’s concerns over what it viewed as an emerging regional alignment against its strategic interests.

The UAE has also developed increasingly close political, economic and security ties with Morocco, while Algeria and Morocco have remained deeply divided over the Western Sahara issue and other regional disputes.

The severing of diplomatic relations now marks the most serious stage of the deterioration between Algiers and Abu Dhabi and raises questions over the future of economic, consular and political ties between the two countries.

As of Thursday, Algeria had announced the decision and ordered the UAE ambassador to leave, while no immediate reciprocal decision from Abu Dhabi had been reported.(ILKHA)