Algeria: Foreign minister makes first Spain visit since 2022
The Interior Minister of Algeria, Ibrahim Murad, has completed an official state visit to Spain, the first in three years.
According to Middle East Monitor, the visit of the Interior Minister was the first by an official since a 2022 diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Spain over Moroccan sovereignty in the Western Sahara.
The Interior Ministry confirmed they would hold talks with Spanish officials to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation.
The visit coincides with the start of an easing of tensions between Algeria and Spain, which signals improved relations between the two sides.
At the G20 summit in South Africa, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf talked with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares, a clear indicator of intent for a shift in relations.
Such a meeting has been unprecedented in three years.
In 2022, a diplomatic crisis begun after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote to King Mohamed VI of Morocco to offer his support for their sovereignty aims over the Western Saharan region.
Algeria reacted by suspending cooperation between Madrid and Algiers.
In the wake of the suspension, Algeria’s imports from Spain ceased whilst exports to Spain contined to flow – with the North African country being rich in oil and petroleum products.
The Western Sahara issue has been a source of tensions between Morocco and Algeria since the Spanish withdrawal from the region in 1975.
After the Spanish withdrew, disputes between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front turned into an armed struggle that lasted until 1991, when a ceasefire agreement was signed.
The Polisario Front represent the rights of the native Saharawi people and have Algerian support.
However, Morocco has grown in confidence in recent years and asserted itself in the region.
Spain has offered its support to Moroccan sovereignty in the region, whilst Algeria insists that the decolonising project is not over and that the native Saharawi people should be given their democratic rights in the region.
The United Nations doesn’t recognise the sovereignty rights of either Morocco or the Polisario Front.
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