The president of Algeria, Abdelmayid Tebún, blamed his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, for having caused the breakdown of the good relationship between the two countries. He did so during an interview with local journalists, broadcast on Saturday night by Algerian public television channels. The president regretted the breach of the “responsibility” of Spain as the “administrating power” of Western Sahara. And he distinguished on several occasions between the “current Spanish Government”, which he directly accuses, and the rest of the Spaniards.
Tebún spoke for the first time about the letter that Sánchez sent to the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, where he described the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara as the “most serious, realistic and credible” basis for resolving the conflict, to the detriment of the self-determination referendum demanded by the Polisario Front. That letter caused the Algerian diplomacy to express its “surprise” at the “sharp turn” of the Spanish Government and withdraw its ambassador in Madrid, Said Moussi.
A journalist asked Tebún when the Algerian ambassador will return to his post – in Madrid – and the president replied with a smile: “He is fine where he is. He is at ease in his country.” And he added: “With the Spaniards, with the Spanish state, we had good relations. In fact, there was closeness, like with Italy. But the Spanish president is the one who decided to break all this. The President of the Government, not Spain. The opinion of Parliament or of the people in Spain has not been taken into account.”
Tebún described the action of the Spanish Government as “morally and historically unacceptable”. “We”, he pointed out, “as an observer country on the issue of Western Sahara believe, and so does the UN, that Spain is the administering power of Western Sahara until there is a definitive solution to the Western Sahara conflict. But she has abdicated her responsibility.”
The same journalist asked him what Algeria is asking Spain to restore relations. And Tebún replied: “Compliance with international law, there is no more.” He immediately clarified: “But I must say that our position is in relation to the Government, not against Spain. We must differentiate between the current Government and the Spanish State. We have very strong ties with the Spanish State. But they shouldn’t… -the president hesitated- they shouldn’t abdicate their responsibility [en relación al Sáhara Occidental]. That’s the only thing, let them reflect.”
There will be gas, “whatever the situation”
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Tebún assured that the sale of gas to Spain is guaranteed. “And to reassure the friendly Spanish people”, he affirmed, “Algeria will never fail to fulfill its responsibilities of supplying Spain with gas whatever the situation”. The president did not make any reference to the price that Algeria will charge Spain for the gas as long-term and medium-term contracts are renewed.
The president of the powerful Algerian public energy group Sonatrach, Touffik Hakkar, assured three weeks ago that his country is contemplating a price increase for the gas it sells to Spain. He told the Algerian public agency APS that since the beginning of the “crisis in Ukraine” the prices of gas and oil “have exploded”. And despite this, Algeria has decided to “maintain” “relatively correct” prices for its customers. “However”, he warned, “it is not excluded to proceed to a recalculation of prices with our Spanish client”.
The Algerian president did not go into more detail regarding Spain. During the interview he addressed several national issues, such as the shortage of cereals that is recorded in various areas of the country, or the unemployment subsidy. Before Tebún blamed Sánchez directly for the breakdown of good relations with Algeria, other senior officials had expressed themselves about the diplomatic crisis.
One day after Pedro Sánchez expressed during an interview on Antena 3 his wish that the Algerian ambassador return in a “short space of time”, the Algerian special envoy ambassador for Western Sahara, Amar Belani, answered him from Algiers. The diplomat declared that the return of the ambassador is subject to the Spanish government offering “prior and frank clarifications” that serve to “rebuild seriously damaged trust” on “clear principles” and “in accordance with international law.”
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