President Tebboune’s interview with Al-Jazeera,: Issues related to Italy, Western Sahara, Palestine, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, France, Morocco tackled
By: Hana Saada
ALGIERS– In an interview granted to the Qatari news channel, broadcast on Tuesday evening, President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed the privileged relations binding Algeria to Italy.
In this vein, President Tebboune affirmed that Algerian-Italian were “strategic, historical and very solid, dating back to the time of the War of Liberation”, noting that the energy agreement with Italy “covers electricity, gas and hydrogen, and that we are working to implement it in cooperation with Europe”.
In a related context, President Tebboune referred to Algerian-Spanish relations. “We consider Spain’s position vis-à-vis Western Sahara as an individual and biased stance from the Sanchez Government”, stressing that Spain “has aligned itself in the Western Sahara file with secret attitudes that do not relieve it of its responsibilities”.
He said, in the same context, that “trade between Algeria and Spain continues… it is carried out by the private sector in both countries”.
President Tebboune also regretted that “Algerian-Moroccan relations have reached this stage (especially that they are two neighboring countries)”, stressing that relations between the two countries have reached “a point of no return” and that the Algerian position was a “reaction”.
“We have practically reached the point of no return,” said Pt. Tebboune, adding: “Our position is a response [to Morocco’s actions], we were never the ones who started [the problem].”
Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, President Tebboune indicated that “Algeria is qualified to play a role of mediation in the Ukrainian crisis, being among the few countries to enjoy the necessary credibility to carry out this mission”, adding that “my visit to Russia is still ongoing and will take place in May at the invitation of the Russian President Vladimir Putin”.
Referring to the Russian-Ukrainian war, which broke out in February 2022, Algeria, noteworthy, positioned itself carefully equidistant between the two belligerents, taking sides with neither, but constantly defending the principle of conflict resolution by the peaceful means and dialogue. Subsequently, President Tebboune’s visit to Russia will necessarily be propitious to intercede in favor of the cessation of hostilities between the Russians and the Ukrainians.
With regard to Algero-French relations, the President of the Republic indicated that “our relationship with France is fluctuating”, stressing that “the Algerian ambassador will soon be back in Paris” after he was summoned for consultations weeks ago.
Noting that in March 2022, Algeria recalled its ambassador from Spain in protest of the Spanish support to the so-called “Moroccan self-rule proposal”.
President Tebboune spoke of the Palestinian cause, which he described as a “central cause” and a “quasi-internal issue in Algeria”.
