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Rabat – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has stirred a new controversy and backlash for his recent indirect remarks against the UAE.
During a recent interview with an Algerian television channel Al24 News on Saturday, Tebboune indirectly criticized the UAE, without explicitly naming the Gulf country.
“We still consider them as brothers, we pray to God to guide them back on the right path, especially during the month of Ramadan,” he said, claiming that the country’s actions are “not logical.”
For Tebboune, Algeria “never bends;” citing Algiers’ influence and respect among major powers.
“If you seek to behave with us as you do with others, you are mistaken…wherever there are conflicts, the money of this state is present in Mali, Libya, Sudan,” he said.
Tebboune’s remarks come a few months after the Algerian High Security Council made a statement that denounced the “hostile actions” of an Arab country, without directly naming UAE.
Observers then suggested that the country targeted in these remarks by Algeria was the UAE.
Tebboune said in the interview that “everyone can testify that we have never resorted to verbal valence against them.”
Tebboune’s remarks sparked backlash, with analysts emphasizing the lack of clarity in his statement, as he failed to specify the actions by the UAE that prompted Algigers to adopt a similar stance.
Algerian analyst Oualid Kebir said on social media that Tebboune hinted at the possibility of serving diplomatic ties with the UAE.
“While he did not mention UAE, it is evident that his remarks are directed towards Abu Dhabi through his discussion of what he termed as financial interference in neighboring countries and Sudan,” Kebir said.
The analyst said that Tebboune never clarified the real reason for the crisis with the UAE because his talk of financial interference in neighboring countries constitutes blatant interference within the sovereign ties of the UAE and its neighbors.
Kebir emphasized that neighboring countries should reject Tebboune’s remarks, which constitute an unacceptable interference in their affairs.
Kebir was not the only individual who expressed dissatisfaction with Tebboune’s latest remarks.
On X, formerly Twitter, many citizens – especially from UAE and other Gulf countries – responded to Tebboune’s controversial remarks and denounced his interference in the domestic affairs of other sovereign nations.
“The Algerian president said that Algeria does not kneel to anyone,” one commenter on X wrote, using a picture of Algerian army chief Said Chengriha saluting the French flag to bring the anecdote.
“They lie as they breathe and as they drink,” the comment added.
A history of interfering in foreign affairs
This is not the first time Algeria’s regime has faced accusations of interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries.
For years, Algeria’s regime has been providing financial support, weapons, and sanctuary to the separatist group of the Polisario Front in the Tindouf camps.
Polisario seeks to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
In addition to the dispute, Algeria has been resorting to claims and accusations towards neighboring countries, including Morocco – exacerbating already tense relations over the past several decades.
The Algerian regime’s interference has also been frequently denounced by Mali.
In January, Mali reiterated its rejection of the regime’s hostility and “unfriendly acts,” accusing Tebboune’s government of interfering in its southern neighbor’s domestic affairs.
The spokesperson for Mali’s military government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, has added that Algeria has taken part in an “increasing number of unfriendly acts, instances of hostilities and interference in Malian internal affairs.
