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.