Algeria Mends Relations with Spain, Appoints New Ambassador

The crisis between the two countries lasted over a year and a half, following the Pedro Sanchez government’s support for Morocco’s Autonomy Initiative for Western Sahara.

Algeria has decided to send a new ambassador to Spain and mend its relations with the European country, according to Spanish outlet El Confidencial.

The move comes to end a 19-month diplomatic standoff between the two countries, which began following the Spanish government’s support for Morocco’s autonomy initiative for Western Sahara.

El Confidencial speculated that Abdelfattah Daghmoum, a former Algerian minister-counselor who was already posted in Madrid, could fill the post of the new ambassador.

In early 2022, Spain voiced its support for the Moroccan initiative as “the most serious, credible and realistic” basis to resolve the Sahara dispute, putting to an end a year of diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Algeria slammed the Pedro Sanchez government for this decision, describing it as “betrayal.” The political tension eventually led to problems in the economic sphere, with Algeria suspending the participation of Spanish companies in Algerian public tenders, costing Spain billions of euros in exports.

Spanish companies on the receiving end of Algeria’s punitive measures launched the “Association of Companies Affected by the Algerian Crisis,” calling on their government to cover the damages that they said were caused by “a political decision” on the Sanchez government’s part.

Spain also had to make up some of its gas imports through other channels as Algeria suspended trade with Madrid and only maintained gas exports through the Medgaz pipeline.

In April 2022, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune denounced Spain’s embrace of Morocco’s Western Sahara stance and recalled Said Moussi, Algeria’s then ambassador to Madrid.

“The attitude of the Spanish government violates the international legality imposed on it by its status as an administering power and the efforts of the United Nations (…) and contributes directly to the deterioration of the situation in Western Sahara and in the region,” President Tebboune said, according to Algerian state media.

Source : Morocco World News