Algeria - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Algeria cover image - flag

Algeria

March 4, 2026

Algiers 4:39 pm

23°C

President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune arrives at Borgo Egnazia on day two of the 50th G7 summit, on June 14, 2024.

Analysis

Libya, Morocco and Israel: Forces powering the Algeria-UAE rupture

Algeria’s recent decision to cancel a 2013 air agreement with the UAE signals an escalation in its rift with the Gulf state and reflects long-standing disputes over Libya and the Western Sahara.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (L) speaks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed during the G7 Summit hosted by Italy, in Savelletri, on June 14, 2024.

Analysis

Why Algeria's nixing of UAE air deal is more diplomatic than economic

Algeria has begun canceling its air services agreement with the UAE amid heightened tensions over the Gulf country’s foreign policy in the region.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

From Egypt to Lebanon: What’s at stake for regional states on Trump’s visa ban list?

The State Department claimed that citizens from the affected countries are more likely to use social welfare services at a high rate.

The Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune is docked at the El Palito refinery after its arrival to Puerto Cabello in the northern state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 25, 2020.

Analysis

Venezuelan crisis unlikely to impact MENA crude exporters in short term

Oil prices inched up on Monday as global oversupply concerns outweighed output disruption fears over the upheaval in Venezuela.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Latest News

Analysis

From Sputnik to satellites: How China is pulling Egypt and Gulf into its space orbit

A platform for the satellite launcher is seen ahead of the Shenzhou-19 mission to the Tiangong space station at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in China's northwestern Gansu province, on Oct. 29, 2024.

Dale Aluf

In Amsterdam, reporting on China in the Middle East

Analysis

Morocco's UN-backed Western Sahara plan offers investors some reassurance

ABDEL MAJID BZIOUAT/AFP via Getty Images

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Feature

Trump eyes Algeria-Morocco rift over Western Sahara in latest peace bid

Camels roam next to wind turbines that will supply power to a desalination plant under construction in Dakhla in the disputed Western Sahara, mostly controlled by Morocco, on May 26, 2025.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Algeria's Sonatrach latest foreign oil major to resume Libya drilling

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

Runners in grueling marathon persevere, as do Sahrawis

Each year, runners brave the harsh conditions of the Sahara Marathon to benefit and show solidarity with the Sahrawi people.

Saharawi school children chant as they leave their school at Samra's refugee
camp, near Tindouf in southwestern Algeria, November 22, 2003. The Saharawi
Polisario, the Algerian-backed movement is campaigning for independence for
the mineral-rich territory controlled by Morocco. Morocco and Algeria,
Polisario's main backer in its armed conflict with Morocco from 1975 to
1991, are under increasing international pressure to settle a dispute which
has slowed regional integration. PP03110087 REUTERS/Andrea C

Soccer club gives Sahrawi kids a workout — and hope

Refugee camps have little to offer children, but dozens of kids are taking advantage of a new soccer club that provides training and helps them hone other skills as well.

Tunisian soldiers stand guard at the scene of an assault on a house outside the town of Ben Guerdane near the border with Libya on March 3, 2016.
Five militants who were killed by Tunisian forces near the Libyan border had slipped across with the intention of carrying out "terrorist attacks", Prime Minister Habib Essid said.

/ AFP / FATHI NASRI (Photo credit should read FATHI NASRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite security gains, IS still seeking foothold in Tunisia

The discovery of warehouses filled with heavy weapons in Tunisia's border area reveal that the Islamic State and its affiliates are still active despite the security crackdown on them.

Festival feeds growing success of Sahrawi filmmakers

The world’s most remote film festival featured a number of Sahrawi-made movies, encouraging young artists there and drawing attention to the Sahrawis' plight.

Sahrawis watch a mine explode during a demonstration organised by officials from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to show the hazards of mined territory near Tifariti, in the Sahara desert in southwestern Algeria, February 28, 2011. Over 150,000 Sahrawis live in several refugee camps dispersed in the Algerian desert 35 years after Morocco annexed the disputed territory of Western Sahara. REUTERS/Juan Medina (ALGERIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2J9CS

Why Sahrawis see more hope in war than in peace

Sahrawi leaders are growing ever-more impatient — and becoming more vocal about it — as little has been accomplished in the 25 years they have waited peacefully for change.

Senior Hamas leaders hold hands as they take part in a rally marking the 28th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in Gaza City December 14, 2015. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem - RTX1YLNL

Hamas looks to Algeria

Algeria’s approval to open a Hamas office in the country may prompt regional and international pressure against it.

Sahrawi women hold Polisario Front's flags during a ceremony to mark 40 years after the Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in the disputed territory of Western Sahara on February 27, 2016 at the Sahrawi refugee camp of Dakhla which lies 170 km to the southeast of the Algerian city of Tindouf.
SADR was declared in 1976 by the Polisario Front -- a rebel movement that wants independence for Western Sahara -- which fought a guerrilla war against Rabat's forces before a ceasefire in 19

Sahrawi protesters recount recent abuses

The people of Western Sahara have been seeking independence for decades and still suffer for their efforts.

Indigenous Sahrawi girls play on an improvised see-saw at a refugee camp of Boudjdour in Tindouf, southern Algeria March 3, 2016. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit the Sahrawi refugees in south-west Algeria's Tindouf region. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTS96QU

Trips offer respite to Sahrawi refugee children

Sahrawi children live in difficult conditions year-round, with the exception of those children lucky enough to take "peace vacations" in Spain.

A student walks past a map at a school in the Smara refugee camp in Algeria's Tindouf province on February 25, 2016.
The Western Sahara is a territory bordered by Morocco and Algeria and disputed by Spain and Morocco who both claiming sovereignty. / AFP / Farouk Batiche (Photo credit should read FAROUK BATICHE/AFP/Getty Images)

Lobbying 2016: Self-reliant Algeria cracks open the door to US influence

A general view shows Chad's President Idriss Deby addressing delegates during the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 31, 2016. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri - RTX24TF2

Why Morocco really wants back in the African Union

The king of Morocco's recent declaration that his country wants to return to the African Union after a 32-year absence appears to be a political maneuver to gain ground in the Western Sahara dispute.

An indigenous Sahrawi woman walks at a refugee camp of Boudjdour in Tindouf, southern Algeria March 3, 2016. In refugee camps near the town of Tindouf in arid southern Algeria, conditions are hard for indigenous Sahrawi residents. Residents use car batteries for electricity at night and depend on humanitarian aid to get by. The five camps near Tindouf are home to an estimated 165,000 Sahrawi refugees from the disputed region of Western Sahara, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. REUTERS/Zo

Algeria rips House appropriators over Sahara coercion

Algiers is furious at pro-Moroccan language in the annual foreign aid bill.

Brahim Ghali (C), new secretary general of Polisario Front and president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), walks at the Sahrawi refugee camp of Dakhla, southeast of the Algerian city of Tindouf, July 9, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina? - RTSH3RO

Western Sahara's Polisario Front elects leader

The Sahrawi people have a new chief and a persistent determination to establish recognition from Morocco, one way or the other.