Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Washington, DC – The struggling Algerian Foreign Minister has been hard at work advertising for the upcoming Arab League summit scheduled to be held in Algiers in March 2022. However, Algeria’s top diplomat blunders and press bloopers are dooming these efforts. Recent statements from Algerian officials show that the Algiers Summit is dead on arrival.
By attending the next Arab meeting in Algiers, Arab leaders would legitimize a state that provides a haven to Iran and endorses policies that divide and weaken Arab unity. The Arab League should move its next summit to a different capital to support Egypt, save Yemen, help Libya, and stop Iran.
Arab leaders should be deeply concerned by the Algerian government’s political positions and dubious alliances with entities bent on destabilizing the Middle East and North Africa. Arabs should not reward General Chengriha, Algeria‘s de-facto ruler, for reckless foreign policy and distractive behavior. On the contrary, some Arab nations like the United Arab Emirates should use their leverage to end the Algerian military psychosis.
Algeria has been an instrument of power for Iranian campaigns to export destruction and instability to North Africa, as it did in Yemen and Syria. Algerian intelligence’s close coordination with Iranian and Hezbollah officers represents a present danger to Arab and American interests.
Algeria has long been complicit in the Iranian government’s grand plan to destabilize Sunni regimes. It has chosen to remain silent on Tehran’s atrocious record of violence and mayhem in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. Now, Algeria is using the banner of the Arab League to attack other Arab nations and support the Mullahs’ incursion in the Maghreb and the African Sahel.
To cite just a few other reasons underscoring Algeria’s unsuitability to host the Arab League: Algeria’s alliance with Iran and its accord to let Hezbollah train Sahrawi rebels in Southwestern Algeria hoping to undermine Morocco; Algiers’ unilateral decision to sever relations with a fellow member of the Arab League; Algeria’s decision to invite Syrian President Bashar Assad to the meeting; The Algerian Military’s decision to invite the Wagner mercenary to the Sahel region despite the group’s violent and divisive role in Libya; and Algerian diplomatic positions supporting Ethiopia in its standoff with Arab league founding member Egypt and Sudan.
Furthermore, the Algerian government’s resolute indifference to the responsibility of Iran and its allies in the horrific war atrocities in Yemen is unacceptable, and the Arab league should denounce it. Algerian apathy to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels’ attacks against Saudi civilians is reason in itself to not hold meetings in the North African nation.
The military-installed government of President Tebounne is ill-equipped and incapable of hosting dozens of heads of state. The capital Algiers lacks the basic infrastructure to receive the hundreds of visitors accompanying their delegations. There are not enough hotels, restaurants, hospitality personnel, and technical know-how to run such gatherings.
Yet, the most worrisome aspect of a summit in Algeria is the possibility of Iranian access to Arabs’ head of state communication and discussion. Iranian intelligence officers have increased their presence and activities in Algeria in the last six months to respond to the Moroccan Israeli alliance.
There is broad Arab recognition that Algeria should not host an Arab summit. However, there seemed less of a sense of urgency to discuss the political ramifications and security dangers of Arab leaders if they meet in such a hazardous location. The Arab League should move the meeting to denounce Algeria’s complicity in implementing Iran’s plan to subvert Arab unity further and put an end to Algiers’s duplicity.
