Algeria cuts diplomatic ties with UAE over 'provocative and hostile actions'
ALGIERS — Algeria said on Thursday it had decided to sever 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".
The foreign ministry said the UAE's actions had reached a point where they could no longer be considered acceptable or tolerable and that it had "exhausted all means of preserving bilateral relations."
Algiers said it was giving the UAE ambassador to Algeria 48 hours "to comply with the decision".
Algerian media outlets have in the past sharply criticized the UAE, accusing it of seeking to sow regional discord.
Algiers and Abu Dhabi have also 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 US-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.
Last year, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said his country's relations with all Gulf states were warm except for one, in a thinly veiled reference to the UAE. He described ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as "brotherly", while accusing the unnamed country of meddling in Algeria's internal affairs and seeking to destabilize it.
Tensions escalated further in February, when Algeria began the process of cancelling an air services agreement with the UAE that was signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013.
Tebboune said a diplomatic break "would have happened long ago" had Algeria not sought to avoid "deepening divisions" in the Arab world.
