Algeria's interference in Libya

There is controversy in Libya over the visit of the Algerian ambassador, Suleiman Shanin, to the Amazigh regions.

From various quarters, this visit has been seen as Algerian interference in Libyan affairs, perhaps with an eye on particularly interesting areas in the Amazigh region, such as the Ghadames basin, a Libyan city located in an oasis near the borders of Tunisia and Algeria, and the oil-rich area of Hamada El Hamra, located in the centre of the Libyan country. 

The Ghadames area had already generated controversy because of the recent movement of the Libyan National Army led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, an opponent of the government in Tripoli under the interim leadership of Abdul Hamid Dabaiba in the context of Libya's civil war. The Libyan National Army was trying to control the town of Ghadames, an important town in the Amazigh region and close to the border with Tunisia and Algeria, a point considered to be of extraordinary importance.

‘The movement of units to the southwest is part of a comprehensive plan to secure the southern border and improve national security in this strategic region by intensifying patrols in the desert and monitoring the border strip with neighbouring countries. This movement does not target anyone,’ as officially reported by the Libyan National Army, which also noted that these movements were aimed at ‘reinforcing the security of the border and southern areas, especially in light of the tension in neighbouring countries and the possibility of activity by extremist groups’. 

Hamada El Hamra, for its part, is vital for oil production, a very important source of wealth for Libya.

The Hamada El Hamra area is located in the southwest of Libya and has a significant national security and economic role. The enclave covers some 100,000 square kilometres of largely uninhabited desert terrain, serves as a critical corridor connecting Libya to Algeria and Niger, and has several major oil and gas fields located within or near its borders.

Its complex territory makes this enclave a particularly attractive smuggling route and also poses cross-border security challenges since the Libyan civil war broke out in 2011.

Against this backdrop, Algerian Ambassador Suleiman Shanin's visit to the Amazigh region sparked controversy in Libyan circles and was seen as internal meddling in Libya's own affairs. 

The spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Libyan Berbers, Akram Jarnaz, confirmed that the Algerian ambassador discussed common border issues between Libya and Algeria during his visit to the town of Nalut, on the border with Tunisia, and agreed that the Libyan Amazigh towns are very important for Algerian security.

For his part, Abdel Moneim Al-Arfi, a member of the House of Representatives, considered the Algerian ambassador's visit to the Amazigh cities and his assertion of their strategic value for Algeria as blatant interference in Libyan affairs.

Algeria aims to increase its presence in the area to discuss regional security issues and regain geostrategic influence. This influence has been lost in recent times due to internal domestic difficulties that create problems for the country. Algeria is going through political difficulties such as the national revolts and protests framed within the Hirak social movement, which has been taking to the streets for years to demand political change in the country after decades of total rule by the National Liberation Front party and the army, the true shadow power within the Algerian regime, and also to denounce the corruption affecting the Maghreb country. 

Algeria is also trying to gain a presence in the Sahel region, an area that is very important for the preservation of regional security, since this area is known for its political instability, with recent coups d'état staged by military juntas in countries such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and for the presence of extremist Jihadist groups whose cross-border activity affects the countries of the African continent and, by extension, neighbouring Europe.

Ambassador Suleiman Shanin's visit, as has been noted, has to do with the Hamada El Hamra area, which is a very important corridor that connects Algeria with Niger, a country located in this hot spot in the Sahel.

This alleged Algerian meddling in the affairs of other countries, such as Libya, has been denounced by analysts and Libyan politicians. Al-Arfi himself added: ‘We reject the interference in our affairs, the imposition of sovereignty over us and the representation that we are a strategic depth for Algeria’.

Security is a very relevant issue in the region, an issue that led to the aforementioned military movement of Libyan National Army troops led by Marshal Haftar on the Libyan-Algerian border. Haftar dominates the eastern part of Libya, with his centre of power based in Benghazi, in the framework of the civil war he is waging against the other pole of power located in the capital of Tripoli and represented by the Government of National Unity of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabaiba. 

The visit of the Algerian ambassador Suleiman Shanin to Nalut thus serves to generate more confusion in Libya in the context of the confrontation between the centres of power in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Analysts believe that the Algerian authorities are seeking a role in the Amazigh region, especially in the Ghadames basin and the oil-rich region of Hamada El Hamra, which has become a source of disagreement between the National Unity Government and tribes such as the Zintan and Amazigh, as well as between the Tripoli authorities and the Benghazi-linked House of Representatives and the Eastern government that emerges from it, as indicated by media outlets such as Al-Arab.