Arabic version: الجزائر تقطع العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع الإمارات

According to Allafrica, Algeria has severed diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, citing what it called “provocative and hostile acts.” Algeria said it would close its airspace to the UAE beginning on Friday, while commercial flights to and from Algiers would be permitted to continue until the end of 2026.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said the decision came after it had exhausted all avenues to preserve bilateral relations with the Gulf country. It said the UAE had persisted in actions that had reached a point Algeria could no longer consider acceptable or tolerable. Algiers also gave the UAE’s ambassador 48 hours to comply with the decision to cut ties.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry said it hoped Algeria’s decision would be temporary and would preserve what it described as fraternal ties between the two peoples. The ministry said it appreciated the Algerian people and pointed to bonds linking the countries, including the Algerian community living in the UAE and Algerian visitors.

Relations have been strained for years over the UAE’s expanding influence in northern and western Africa. Algeria has previously accused Abu Dhabi of seeking to destabilize Libya, Mali and Sudan. The UAE has been accused of supporting the RSF paramilitary in Sudan’s civil war, an allegation it denies, and it backs Khalifa Haftar’s Tobruk-based administration in eastern Libya.

In July, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune criticized the UAE’s influence in other countries, saying, “wherever they set foot, blood flows.” Following the announcement, Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said diplomatic relations should rest on “rationality, communication and clarity of interests” rather than “riddles and signals that require decoding.” He did not explicitly mention Algeria.