Algeria Cuts Ties With UAE: What Finally Broke The Relationship?

Algeria has cut diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, accusing Abu Dhabi of “provocative or hostile” actions and saying it had exhausted all efforts to preserve bilateral relations.

Algeria’s Foreign Ministry informed the UAE ambassador of the decision and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. The ministry did not publicly identify a single event that prompted the break in relations.

The UAE did not immediately announce a reciprocal severing of ties however, Presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said Abu Dhabi believed differences should be handled through diplomacy and “rational communication and clarity”.

A Gradual Rift

The break follows years of increasingly strained relations between the two countries.

Algerian officials and state media have repeatedly accused the UAE of interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs and pursuing policies that undermine Algerian interests in North Africa and the Sahel. The two countries have also increasingly diverged over regional conflicts and alliances.

Their differences have been particularly visible over Western Sahara. Algeria supports the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the disputed territory, while the UAE backs Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara.

The two countries have also taken different positions on Israel. Algeria strongly opposes normalisation with Israel, while the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.

Sahel And Regional Rivalries

The wider geopolitical competition extends into the Sahel, where Algeria has traditionally regarded developments along its southern borders as a major security concern.

The UAE has expanded its economic and political engagement across Africa and the Sahel, creating potential friction with Algeria’s regional priorities. Algeria has also been critical of what it sees as external interference in conflicts and political affairs in its neighbourhood.

The tensions have spilled into bilateral relations. Algeria began the process earlier this year of cancelling a decade-old air-services agreement with the UAE, Reuters reported.

The UAE, meanwhile, has maintained commercial interests in Algeria, including through DP World’s involvement in Algerian ports, even as political relations deteriorated.

No Single Trigger Identified

The wording used by Algiers leaves the immediate cause of the diplomatic break unclear.

The Foreign Ministry said only that Algeria had decided to sever relations after exhausting “all means to preserve bilateral relations”.  According to Reuters, local media had accused the UAE of contributing to regional instability, but the government did not publicly point to one specific incident as the trigger for Thursday’s decision.

That makes the move significant as the culmination of a broader deterioration rather than an openly stated response to a single dispute. The timing also comes as the Middle East and North Africa face a broader wave of geopolitical tensions, with competing alignments over the conflicts in Sudan, Libya, the Sahel and the Israel-Palestinian issue.