Algeria will bar all civilian and military aircraft registered in the United Arab Emirates from entering its airspace starting Friday, the North African country said Thursday after announcing it was severing diplomatic ties with the Gulf state.
UAE commercial flights operating to and from Algiers will be allowed to continue until the end of 2026, when the existing contract expires, Algeria’s Defense Ministry said.
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The UAE said later Thursday that it hoped Algeria’s decision to cut diplomatic relations would be temporary.
Algiers accused Abu Dhabi of meddling in Algeria’s domestic affairs and matters across the region, giving the UAE ambassador 48 hours “to comply with the decision.”
In a statement, Algeria’s government cited “provocative and hostile acts” by the UAE, although it did not specify what had prompted the diplomatic rupture.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has repeatedly described the UAE as a “micro-state” or “statelet” seeking to destabilize countries across the region, including Libya, Mali and Sudan.
Algeria, which has signaled for months that relations were deteriorating, said it had taken the step only “after exhausting all avenues to preserve bilateral relations” with the UAE.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said it had issued repeated warnings to Abu Dhabi, but that the UAE had “persisted in its actions, reaching a point where they could no longer be considered acceptable or tolerable.”
“Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side’s attention to, and to warn it against, the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified conduct,” the ministry said.
During a televised interview in July, Tebboune again criticized Abu Dhabi, declaring: “Wherever they set foot, blood flows.”
“We want them to stay away, so that blood does not flow in our country,” he added.
Tebboune said at the time that the diplomatic relationship “would have happened long ago” had Algeria not tried to prevent “deepening divisions” within the Arab world.
Relations have been strained by several developments in recent years.
Last year, Algerian state television condemned what it described as a hostile media campaign after the UAE-based broadcaster Sky News Arabia aired an interview with historian Mohamed Amine Belghit. During the interview, Belghit made controversial comments questioning the existence of Algeria’s indigenous Amazigh culture.
Belghit was imprisoned in Algeria before Tebboune later pardoned him.
The two governments have also diverged sharply over foreign policy, including the UAE’s decision to normalize relations with Israel in 2020.
