The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the granting of approval for the appointment of Abdelfetá Daghmun as the new ambassador of Algeria in Spain, a position that had been vacant since Algiers withdrew its diplomatic representative in March 2022 in protest at the turn of the Spanish Government. regarding Western Sahara.
Abdelfetah Daghmoum is a veteran diplomat who was already stationed in Madrid a few years ago as minister counselor, that is, as ‘number two’ of the Embassy. After being appointed ambassador to Guinea Conackry, Daghmoum was currently posted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Algerian president, Abdelmajid Tebboune, will thus be able to proceed with the appointment of the new ambassador, thus closing the diplomatic crisis that opened with Spain almost 20 months ago when Pedro Sánchez described Morocco’s proposal to grant autonomy to the Sahrawis as the “most serious , and credible” to resolve the conflict in the former Spanish territory.
On March 19 of last year, Tebboune called the ambassador in Madrid, Said Moussi – who was later appointed to the same position in Paris – for consultations. A chargé d’affaires remained at the head of the Embassy and although Spain did not respond with the same measure and kept its ambassador in Algiers, Fernando Morán, in office, relations deteriorated greatly, also from an economic point of view.
At the end of September, Spain and Algeria maintained contacts on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to try to mend relations. Precisely some words spoken by Pedro Sánchez, before the General Assembly, moved Algiers to consider ending the crisis. The acting president of the Government spoke in that speech about seeking a solution to the Sahara conflict “within the framework of the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the Security Council” and defended a “political and mutually acceptable solution” for both parties. , without mentioning the Moroccan proposal for autonomy.
Also, apparently, Algiers welcomed the fact that, after the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, Sánchez emphasized the need to move towards the creation of a Palestinian State that coexists with the Israeli one. Algeria is one of the strongest supporters of the Palestinians, both the National Authority and Hamas, and does not recognize Israel.
