Abdelmadjid Tebboune: historic visit to Mauritania

Almost four decades later, an Algerian president, in this case Abdelmadjid Tebboune, will visit the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, this time to take part in the Continental Conference on Education, Youth and Employability, organised by the African Union (AU) in the country's capital, Nouakchott, on 9, 10 and 11 December.  

Until then, in all official meetings or state visits, the government team that travelled was the Mauritanian one. Since 2019, the Mauritanian president, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, has visited Algiers five times.  

The Algerian president was accompanied on his departure from Houari Boumediene International Airport by the Prime Minister, Nadir Larbaoui, and the Minister Delegate to the Minister of National Defence, Chief of Staff of the National People's Army, Army General Said Chengriha.

Ghazouani currently holds the rotating presidency of the AU until February 2025, which, together with the good relations between the two administrations, has led to the Algerian president's first trip to Mauritania.  

One of the strong points of the relationship between Algiers and Nouakchott is the Mauritanian recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) since 1984.  

The visit takes place in a complicated regional context of tensions in the region, as unrest persists in the Sahel and new regimes emerge that do not accept the influence or intervention of neighbouring countries, including historically important nations such as France. There is also a cooling of relations between Algeria and regional and international capitals over issues of historical memory.

However, in terms of security, both administrations face the same challenges. Mauritania is gradually becoming a centre of polarisation where the interests of different countries coincide, while Algeria has chosen a confrontational diplomatic path that has cost it strained relations with its traditional partners. Part of Algeria's interests are to strengthen relations with Mauritania as it has lost influence in the Sahel region, especially in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

The interests of the trip are unclear and Mauritania's acceptance of it, according to experts such as Shawki Ben Zahra, is not understood as the country's official position is to maintain a balanced position between relations with Morocco and Algeria, two political rivals in the Maghreb region. According to Zahra, ‘this visit also comes in the context of Algeria's attempt to convince the Mauritanian government to join the tripartite Maghreb bloc that includes Tunisia and Libya, which Nouakchott refused to join.’ 

On the economic front, relations between the two countries have developed markedly in recent years. Algeria has become the first African trading partner with an economic exchange of $300 million in 2022 and $414 million in 2023. In addition to trade, Mauritanian media cited that Algerian investments in Mauritania have supported major basic infrastructure projects, the construction of a border crossing of more than 700 kilometres, which will link the Mauritanian city of Zouérate with Tindouf in southwest Algeria, and the opening of a branch of the Bank of Algeria in the country's capital.