Albares meets with his Algerian counterpart for the first time since the bilateral crisis

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Friday in Johannesburg with his Algerian counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, with whom he discussed, among other issues, the efforts made by the Algerian authorities to free the Spaniard kidnapped in mid-January in the south of the country. This is Albares' first meeting with his Algerian colleague since the diplomatic crisis between the two countries broke out in 2022 as a result of the decision of Pedro Sánchez's Government to support the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco for Western Sahara. That crisis with Algeria - the main supplier of gas to Spain, at a particularly delicate time due to the energy crisis arising from Russia's war in Ukraine - resulted, on the part of Abdelmajid Tebboune's Government, in the recall of the former ambassador to Spain for consultations in March 2022 and the suspension of the bilateral Friendship Treaty and trade relations. The thaw in bilateral relations came in 2023, after Sánchez spoke before the UN General Assembly in which he advocated seeking a solution to the Sahara conflict “within the framework of the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the Security Council”, without mentioning the Moroccan proposal for autonomy, and thanks to Spain's position in favour of the Palestinian State. In these circumstances, Spain granted its approval in November of that year to the new Algerian ambassador, Abdelfetá Daghmun. “Meeting with the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, at the G20 Summit in South Africa,” Albares declared on social media on Thursday. “We have discussed our bilateral relations and agreed to strengthen them even further,” he continued. “We also discussed Palestine, the Sahel, the Mediterranean and Ukraine. We believe in peace and multilateralism,” he concluded. According to diplomatic sources informed The Diplomat, during the meeting, which was “very cordial,” both ministers discussed bilateral relations and agreed to “further strengthen ties between the two countries.” Furthermore, “the efforts to free the Spanish hostage were appreciated,” referring to Joaquín Navarro Canada, who was captured by an armed group on January 14 while he was on a tourist visit to the border area and was released thanks to the mediation of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), one of the main Tuareg separatist groups in northern Mali, and handed over to the Algerian authorities, before his repatriation to Spain. In addition, according to the same sources, the two ministers shared “support for the Palestinian National Authority, as well as for multilateralism and forums such as the G20” and expressed “satisfaction with the sectoral cooperation, in areas such as the economy, in the fight against terrorism and the mafias that traffic in human beings.” "There was also talk of the long history of friendship between the Spanish and Algerian people," they added.

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