Algeria Cuts Diplomatic Ties With the UAE and Shuts Its Airspace to Emirati Aircraft

Algeria has severed diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and closed its airspace to Emirati aircraft, accusing the Gulf state of provocative and hostile conduct in the sharpest break yet in a rivalry that has simmered for years.

The decision was announced on Algerian state television on Thursday. The foreign ministry said Algiers had exhausted every means of preserving the relationship and had repeatedly warned Abu Dhabi about the consequences of what it called regrettable and unjustified behaviour. The Emirati ambassador, Yousef Saif Khamis Subaa Al-Ali, was given 48 hours to comply with the decision and leave the country.

What the airspace ban covers

Algeria's defence ministry said the ban would take effect on Friday 11 September and apply to all civilian and military aircraft registered in the UAE. There is one exemption: commercial flights to and from Algiers airport will be permitted to continue until 31 December 2026.

The move builds on earlier steps. In February, Algeria began the process of cancelling a 2013 air services agreement with the Emirates, a sign that relations had already deteriorated well before this week's announcement.

The foreign ministry did not publicly detail the specific acts that prompted the rupture. But Algerian officials, including President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, have for some time accused the UAE of meddling across North Africa and the Sahel. In a televised interview in July, Tebboune said of the Emiratis that "wherever they set foot, blood flows".

Years of friction

The dispute touches almost every sensitive issue in Algerian foreign policy:

• Western Sahara. The UAE supports Morocco's claim to the disputed territory and has opened a consulate there. Algeria is the principal backer of the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the region.
• Israel. Abu Dhabi normalised relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. Algeria opposes normalisation and has criticised Emirati efforts to encourage other Arab states, including Morocco, to follow suit.
• Algeria's neighbourhood. Algiers accuses the UAE of fuelling conflicts on or near its borders by supporting the forces of Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, and by extending its influence in Mali and Niger.
• Domestic security. Tebboune has alleged Emirati support for the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie, a separatist group that Algeria lists as a terrorist organisation.
• Media. Algerian state television has accused a UAE-based Arabic news channel of a hostile campaign, including an interview in which a historian questioned the Amazigh, or Berber, dimension of Algeria's national identity.

Abu Dhabi's response

The Emirati foreign ministry said it hoped Algeria's decision would prove temporary, in the interests of preserving fraternal ties between the two peoples. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said relations between states should rest on rationality, communication and a clear understanding of shared interests rather than ambiguity.

A wider regional pattern

Algeria is not the first country to fall out publicly with the Emirates over accusations of interference. Somalia accused the UAE in January of undermining its sovereignty, and Sudan's army-backed government has repeatedly accused Abu Dhabi of undermining the country's sovereignty through its alleged support for the Rapid Support Forces, a charge the UAE denies.

The break is also likely to sharpen divisions in the Maghreb, where Algeria and Morocco have had no diplomatic relations since Algiers cut ties with Rabat in 2021. With the UAE firmly aligned with Morocco on Western Sahara, the rupture places Algeria further at odds with one of the Arab world's wealthiest and most active foreign policy players.

For now, the practical effects will be felt most directly in aviation, by Emirati-registered aircraft whose routes would normally cross Algerian territory, while the exemption for Algiers flights gives airlines and passengers until the end of the year to adjust.

Image: Muhammed amine benloulou via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0