Algeria Cuts Diplomatic Ties with UAE

ALGIERS, September 10: Algeria has announced that it is severing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, accusing Abu Dhabi of taking what it described as provocative and hostile actions and saying that all efforts to preserve bilateral relations had been exhausted.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said the UAE’s actions had reached a point where they could no longer be considered acceptable or tolerable. According to the ministry, Algeria had exhausted all diplomatic and bilateral means available to safeguard relations between the two countries before taking the decision to break diplomatic ties.

The UAE ambassador in Algiers was summoned to the Algerian Foreign Ministry and formally informed of the decision. He was given 48 hours to leave Algeria, according to the ministry.

The announcement marks a major deterioration in relations between the two Arab countries, which have experienced growing tensions in recent years. Algeria has increasingly criticised what it views as the UAE’s expanding regional influence and alleged interference in matters affecting Algerian national interests.

The two countries have taken sharply different positions on several major regional issues. Algeria remains opposed to the normalisation of relations with Israel, while the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

The Western Sahara dispute has also become a major point of divergence. The UAE supports Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over Western Sahara and has a consulate in the territory, while Algeria supports the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Western Sahara.

Their interests have also increasingly overlapped and competed in the Sahel region. The UAE has expanded its political and economic relationships with several governments in the region, while Algeria has traditionally regarded the Sahel as part of its strategic security sphere.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had previously indicated that relations with the Gulf states were generally strong, while making an indirect reference to one country as an exception. He described Algeria’s relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as brotherly and accused the unnamed country of interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs and seeking to destabilise the country. Reuters reported that the remarks were widely understood as referring to the UAE.

The diplomatic rupture follows a series of earlier developments that had indicated a serious deterioration in bilateral relations. In February 2026, Algeria began the formal process of terminating an air services agreement with the UAE that had been signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013 and ratified by presidential decree in December 2014. Under the agreement, the UAE was to be formally notified through diplomatic channels and the International Civil Aviation Organization was also to be informed.

Algerian media outlets had also increasingly accused the UAE of attempting to create regional divisions, while reports earlier this year suggested that relations could eventually be severed. At the time, however, there had been no official confirmation of an imminent diplomatic break.

Following Algeria’s announcement on Thursday, UAE presidential diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash issued a statement on X stressing that diplomacy should be based on rationality, communication and clarity of interests rather than what he described as riddles and signals requiring interpretation. He did not explicitly name Algeria or directly link his remarks to the decision.

The latest development represents one of the most serious diplomatic ruptures between Algeria and an Arab Gulf state in recent years. It could have consequences beyond bilateral political relations, potentially affecting economic cooperation, aviation, investment and coordination on regional issues.

The decision also comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions across the Middle East and North Africa, making the Algeria-UAE rupture particularly significant for the wider regional balance.