Algeria has severed diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates after accusing Abu Dhabi of “provocative and hostile” actions and saying it had exhausted efforts to preserve relations. The decision was announced by Algerian state television on Thursday.
Algeria also ordered UAE Ambassador Yousef Saif Khamis Subaa Al-Ali to comply with the decision within 48 hours and said its airspace would close to UAE-registered aircraft from Friday, with an exception for UAE commercial flights to and from Algiers until the end of the year.
How the UAE responded
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said on social media that diplomacy should be based on “rationality, communication and clarity of interests” rather than “riddles and signals that require decoding”. He did not explicitly name Algeria or directly connect his remarks to the announcement.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said it hoped Algeria’s decision would be temporary. It also expressed appreciation for the Algerian people and highlighted ties between the two populations, including the Algerian community living in the UAE and Algerian visitors.
Why relations had deteriorated
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has repeatedly accused the UAE of interfering in Algerian and regional affairs. In a televised interview in July, he referred to an unnamed “micro-state” that he said had a negative regional impact and warned that Algeria could have broken relations earlier but had avoided doing so to prevent deeper regional divisions. The UAE has denied allegations of involvement in regional conflicts. Read the context: Yemen’s New Maritime Siege Escalates Conflict and Regional Tensions.
The two governments also disagree over Israel and Western Sahara. Algeria opposes normalisation with Israel, while the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel through the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020. The UAE supports Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara; Algeria supports the Polisario Front’s bid for an independent territory.
A wider regional dispute
The rupture follows Algeria’s move in February to begin cancelling a 2013 air services agreement with the UAE. It also comes amid wider disputes involving Abu Dhabi: Somalia cancelled agreements covering ports, security and defence in January, while Sudan has accused the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces and supplying drones used in attacks from Ethiopia. The UAE denies those allegations.
Relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also become strained over Yemen. In December, Saudi forces struck what Riyadh described as a UAE-linked weapons shipment to the separatist Southern Transitional Council, while Saudi Arabia backed demands for Emirati forces to leave Yemen.
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