Spanish FM's Visit to Algeria Postponed

The former Algerian Prime Minister with the Spanish Minister of Environmental Transition (File photo: Asharq Al-Awsat)
The former Algerian Prime Minister with the Spanish Minister of Environmental Transition (File photo: Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Spanish FM's Visit to Algeria Postponed

The former Algerian Prime Minister with the Spanish Minister of Environmental Transition (File photo: Asharq Al-Awsat)
The former Algerian Prime Minister with the Spanish Minister of Environmental Transition (File photo: Asharq Al-Awsat)

Hours before his arrival to Algeria, the visit of Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares was postponed to a later date at the host country's request, citing failure to resolve some issues scheduled for discussion, according to Algerian media sources.

The Spanish official's visit was scheduled to normalize bilateral relations after months of political and trade rupture following Algiers' protest at a Spanish decision to support the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara.

Algeria withdrew its ambassador and suspended the Friendship Treaty signed in 2002.

The sources said the date of the visit "had been confirmed until Sunday evening," noting that a Spanish government delegation visited Algeria to discuss the issues that Albares was supposed to address with his counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, and other officials he was scheduled to meet, including Prime Minister Nadir Larbaoui.

They highlighted that the visit was postponed after the two sides failed to reach a consensus on some of the issues scheduled to be discussed without further details.

Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front, wanted an explicit Spanish announcement on its return to neutrality in the Sahara issue in exchange for lifting the ban on trade exchanges.

It is likely that the Algerians were hoping Albares would make statements that could be interpreted as "Madrid does not support Moroccan Autonomy, but rather prefers that the conflict be left to the United Nations as the only body authorized to resolve it."

Spanish newspaper El País stated on Sunday that the visit had been postponed "for reasons related to an Algerian agenda" without further elaborating.

It quoted Albares as asserting that Algeria is a friendly country to Spain, which has always extended its hand for solid relations based on good neighborliness.

It also referred to the resumption of trade exchanges in some sectors last month, which was an indication of the return of relations to normal, according to the minister.

Ahead of the visit, Algerian sources announced that several issues scheduled for discussion between Albares and Attaf included the resumption of intra-regional trade, the Sahara issue, the situation in Mali, and the Israeli war on Gaza.

The two countries share several positions regarding the Gaza war, namely the need for an immediate halt to Israeli aggression and the entry of aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Signs of a breakthrough in ties between the two countries appeared last November, with the return of the Algerian ambassador to Madrid 20 months after his withdrawal.

Last December, Air Algerie, the national carrier, resumed its flights to major Spanish cities after several months of halt.



UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP
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UN Official Denies Israeli Claim Yemen Airport was Military Target

The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26  - AFP
The control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - AFP

The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa's airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.

Israel said that it was targeting "military infrastructure" in Thursday's raids and that targets around the country were used by Houthis to "smuggle Iranian weapons" and bring in senior Iranian officials.

UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport "is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations."

"It's used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights -- that is its purpose," he told reporters by video link from Yemen, AFP reported.

"Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets," he added. "The obligation is on them, not on us. We don't need to prove we're civilians."

Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.

One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.

"There was one airstrike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another airstrike approximately 300 meters to the north of us," he said.

"What was most frightening about that airstrike wasn't the effect on us -- it's that the airstrikes took place... as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land," he said.

"In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed."

Although the plane "was able to land safely... it could have been far, far worse."

The Israeli attack, he said came with "zero indication of any potential airstrikes."

Harneis said the airport is "absolutely vital" to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. "If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations."

The United Nations has labeled Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world," with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.

Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.