Tebboune unwelcome at Arab summit in Riyadh
The purpose of the visit of the Saudi minister was on a very important issue in the eyes of the Saudi kingdom which is very keen on the success of the Arab summit.
Contrary to what the Algerian authorities wanted to imply, the Saudi minister did not go to Algiers to give the Algerian president the invitation to participate in the Riyadh summit. The latter was delivered through another channel. That of the ambassador of the kingdom in Algiers to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to a source close to the Algerian presidential circle, Prince Faisal Bin Farhane Al Saud was sent especially to make the Algerian president understand that King Selmane would not wish to see a bellicose spirit or the slightest animosity between the participants and particularly the heads of the states present at the Riyadh summit. The hint is clear. This is the position of the power of Algiers against its Moroccan neighbor. It is out of the question, for King Selmane to see Tebboune grimace or gesticulate hostilely in the presence of King Mohamed VI if the latter would be among those present.
It should be recalled that only Algeria and Morocco, two member countries of the Arab League do not maintain diplomatic relations. These were broken at the initiative of Algiers on August 24, 2021 following the holding of a meeting of the High Security Council which had decreed, on the same occasion, the closure of Algerian airspace to any aircraft registered in Morocco. A break in relations regularly embellished by bellicose messages relayed by the official Algerian press to Morocco. A bellicosity that goes so far as to prevent the Moroccan national soccer team from participating in the African Championship of Nations of the under 23 years.
Without proposing a mediation in order not to face another refusal that would touch the Saudi pride, Prince Faisal expressed the wish to see the two Algerian and Moroccan delegations talk on the sidelines of the summit to iron out the differences that poison the relations between the two countries. As usual, the Algerian president denied the existence of any dispute on the Algerian side. He has, however, insisted on the Israeli threat to Algeria caused by the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. To which the Saudi minister replied that the Saudi kingdom would manage to obtain an official Moroccan commitment if the Algerian side agreed to enter into talks with its neighbor.
Not being master of the decision, as was his predecessor Andelaziz Bouteflika, the current tenant of the El-Mouradia palace committed himself to do his best to ensure the success of the Riyadh summit. A meaningless commitment in the eyes of the Saudis insofar as Tebboune had not yet received the invitation to participate. It is insignificant, too, insofar as the host country is concerned with actions and not words to ensure the success of the meeting. This is what it has already managed to do by being the master of the return of Syria in the Arab fold on serious bases with specific conditions that Damascus has agreed.
In their hearts, the Algerians have understood the message of the Saudi emissary but do not seem to give an inch on their hostile position against Morocco. The survival of a regime that feeds on imaginary threats and the existence of internal and external enemies to divert the attention of the Algerian people from the real problems that plague a young and rich country governed by a gerontocracy that has made it poor by its inability to manage wealth through mismanagement, corruption and theft. The number of generals, heads of government and ministers sentenced to long prison terms is proof of this.
