Algerian Regime Seeks Elusive Arab Support in Egypt

After suffering a diplomatic humiliation with the cancelation of the Arab summit that was planned in March in Algiers, Pdt. Abdelmajid Tebboune flew on Tuesday to Cairo seeking Egypt’s leverage to shore up Arab support for the summit venue.

The hubris of Algerian military junta, de facto rulers, has been shaken to the core by the decision of the Arab league of putting on hold the high-profile gathering without setting a new date for it.

This has raised the specter of withdrawing the Arab summit from Algeria as the upcoming meeting of Arab foreign ministers expected to discuss a new date for the summit will be held in Cairo on March 9 and not in the host country as it has been the tradition.

The Algerian president’s trip to Cairo comes a few days after the fiasco of the shuttle diplomacy conducted by his Foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra in the Middle East and Gulf region.

Lamamra visited several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar to get support and ensure the participation of Heads of State in the Algiers summit but the trumpeted regional tour ended in debacle.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain have reaffirmed, during their latest summit, strong support to Morocco and its territorial integrity, stressing the importance of the “special strategic partnership” between the GCC and Morocco.

The supportive stand voiced by the GCC and several other Arab countries to Morocco dealt a hard blow to the Algerian regime which was intending to use the summit to serve its separatist agenda and undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity by trying to gain Arab support for its Polisario armed militia group.

Furthermore, the UAE and Bahrain have opened consulates in the Saharan city of Laayoune, confirming their recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara following the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara.

Besides Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain have also normalized relations with Israel without prompting a hostile reaction from the Algerian regime which cut diplomatic relations with Morocco, closed its airspace to Moroccan planes and shut down the gas pipeline crossing its neighboring country.

All Arab countries have kept their distance from the Algerian regime, disapproving their divisive agenda, hawkish strategy, adding oil to fire and creating more frictions and tensions in the region.

The Algerian regime cannot play the coalescing role and be the unifier of the Arab ranks and causes, while it severed all ties with another Arab country it falsely blames for all its failures to divert the local public attention from the growing popular uproar and legitimate socioeconomic woes.