U.S.A.-Algeria: Political tension leads Algiers to deny airspace to U.S. military plane
The reckless ruling Algerian junta has refused to allow a C-17 plane of U.S. Air Force into its airspace without giving the reasons behind such a troubling move.
The incident, which has been reported by Spanish daily “La Razon”, comes after the visit paid by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joshua Harris to Algiers to advance the UN political process in the Sahara to achieve an enduring solution without further delay.
According to ACARS messages published by Spanish daily, the American aircraft took off from U.S. naval base in Rota (Southern Spain) at 20:27 PM on December 9 heading for Algiers.
After nearly a three-hour flight, the C17 aircraft crew made a U-turn when Algerian air-controllers told them they were not allowed to fly over their territory.
The incident raises questions as the U.S. military planes used to operate non-stop flights over Algerian airspace without any restrictions even during the Gaza war.
According to some analysts, the Algerian regime was irked by the supportive remarks of U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary to Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara. He describes it as “serious, credible, and realistic” solution, without saying a word on self-determination referendum or Polisario, the Algeria-backed armed militia.
After trying to twist his statements and deceive public opinion, the U.S. embassy in Algiers published the integral text of an interview of Harris with Algerian media.
In this interviewed, the U.S. official said Washington “wants to see a lasting political solution for Sahara. We are serious about using our influence to enable a successful UN political process,” adopted by the Security Council.
In its resolutions, the Council urges all parties to the Sahara conflict to show a spirit of realism and compromise taking into account the current situation on the ground right now.
Mr. Harris insisted on creativity, pragmatism, and realism to overcome the deadlock, saying “that the same type of efforts that led to unsuccessful political processes in years past are not likely to yield results,” referring to self-determination which was ditched by the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly.
