The President of the Republic said in a press interview with the Qatari channel “Al-Jazeera”, that “Algeria is the only country that makes the voices of Palestine, the Western Sahara, and the oppressed peoples heard.” This is why, some want to silence its voice, but this will not happen.
The President highlighted that Algeria has been “targeted since a long time” because it “thwarted all the conspiracies surrounding the Arab world,” noting in the context that “it was the only republic that remained steadfast in light of the sabotage witnessed by the rest of the Arab countries that suffered what is known as the Arab Spring.”
Pt. Tebboune added “We are also targeted because we are a country that has no external debt and therefore is sovereign and independent in decision-making.”
With regard to the Western Sahara issue, the President of the Republic reiterated that it is not born today, but rather 40 years ago, and is today at the level of the United Nations Commission for Decolonization, highlighting that the United Nations considers Western Sahara a “colony” and has forces in the region represented by the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara “MINURSO”.
To decide on this issue, President Tebboune stressed that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a founding member of the African Union and was previously a member of the Organization of African Unity, recalling that there are 75 countries that recognize the Sahrawi Republic.
In response to a question about Algerian relations, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, reiterated that “Algeria does not have any problem with its neighbor Morocco, but it seems that Morocco has problems with Algeria,” calling for this purpose the Kingdom of Morocco “to sit at the dialogue table to raise its problems, adding that the Western Sahara issue is not born today” and is in the hands of the United Nations.
He mentioned, in this regard, that Algeria had in the past years, good relations with its Moroccan neighbor and the borders were open between the two countries.
For all this, Mr. Tebboune says, “Algeria’s position on the Western Sahara issue is constant and has not changed and will not accept the fait accompli, regardless the circumstances.”
Regarding the issue of Algeria’s welcoming of the Sahrawi President, Brahim Ghali, the President of the Republic stated that he had received the Sahrawi leader “as a political man who was elected by the Sahrawi people.”
And on the Palestinian issue, the President of the Republic stressed that Algeria’s position is constant “and does not change with time or inaction,” recalling the agreement at the level of the Arab League, where all Arabs agreed on “land for peace, which means the establishment of the State of Palestine and then establish peace with the occupier,” but today -The president says- “there is no peace and no land,” which calls into question the purpose of normalization.
== No ambitions for Algeria in Libya and Mali ==
With regard to the Libyan crisis, the President of the Republic stated that Algeria refused to make Tripoli “the first Maghreb and African capital to fall into the hands of mercenaries, and if that happened, we would have intervened in one way or another, and we would not have remained idle,” adding, “when we said that Tripoli is a red line, we meant it and our message was conveyed and it has not been occupied.”
The President of the Republic underlined that Algeria, after being absent for years from the diplomatic arena, has strongly returned today, saying that it called at the Berlin Conference for the organization of general elections in Libya, under the supervision of the United Nations, to be as a start for a modern state.
President Tebboune indicated that the Libyan brothers “officially requested that the Libyan reconciliation process takes place in Algeria, and this was confirmed by the Prime Minister of the Libyan National Unity Government, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, in his recent visit, which is such an honor for us, because the Libyan brothers are well aware that Algeria does not have any ambitions.” Except to return the favor to the Libyan people who stood by us during the blessed revolution.”
Regarding the situation in Mali, the President of the Republic said that “since Algeria’s independence in 1962, we have taken care of Mali’s problems, as neighbors and brothers as the country hosts half Malian and half Algerian tribes and witnesses the serious north and south problem adding that “ we have always been assisting in good faith and never demanded anything in return.”
He went on to say, “It seems that Mali is within the cordon of Algeria. Mali and the Sahel region in general have been destabilized after what happened in Libya, and there are long and wide convoys carrying heavy and light weapons heading towards the Sahel, representing gangs that were spotted by satellite, but no one stopped them,” which means ” The encirclement of Algeria (…) but our blessed army is strong, and is getting stronger.”
The President stressed that “the army left politics completely, about 12 to 15 years ago, and headed towards professionalism, and the matter falls within the framework of its professionalism, meaning its readiness for any emergency at any moment.”
