Rabat – Algeria’s regime has announced the beginning of the formal process of terminating its air services agreement with the UAE.
The agreement dates back to May 13, 2013, and was ratified by presidential decree on December 30, 2014. Algeria’s regime offered no immediate explanation for the move.
On Saturday, Algeria’s state-owned radio said the cancellation of the agreement is being carried out under Article 22, which stipulates that the UAE should be formally notified through diplomatic channels.
The canceled agreement allowed each country’s aviation authorities to designate one or more carriers to operate the agreed routes, among other services. Each party could suspend or revoke licenses if carriers violated laws or failed to comply with the agreement.
Reuters reported that Algerian media accused the UAE of attempting to “sow discord in the region.”
“In October last year, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said his country’s relations with all Gulf states were warm except for one country, in a thinly veiled reference to the UAE,” Reuters reported.
In 2024, Tebboune also accused Abu Dhabi of allying with Morocco and Israel to destabilize the Sahel region and undermine Algerian interests in the Western Sahara dispute.
Algeria continues to back the Polisario Front, a separatist group that aims to establish an independent state in Morocco’s southern provinces to undermine Rabat’s territorial integrity. This tension between the two countries is not new.
Last October, Algeria’s regime expressed frustration over the UAE’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
Algerian state-aligned media accused the UAE and France of exerting pressure on UN Security Council members ahead of the vote on a new resolution for Western Sahara. Algerian news outlet El Hayat quoted “well-informed” sources who accused France and the UAE of exerting “strong pressure” within the UN Security Council to “push members” to vote in favor of a “proposal” that recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The accusations came amid momentum Morocco has been gaining in the Sahara dispute, as the international community has shown growing support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only or most feasible political framework to end the dispute.
This was documented on October 31, when the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2797, which officially endorsed the autonomy initiative as a genuine political solution and acknowledged its centrality as the sole framework for negotiations seeking a political resolution to the dispute.