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France, You Are Guilty: How Paris Turned Western Sahara into the Maghreb’s Powder Keg

The Rupture That Was 50 Years in the Making

By Mohammed ibn Faisal al-Rashid – New Eastern Outlook – September 20, 2026

On September 10, 2026, Algeria announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE ambassador was given 48 hours to leave the country, and as of September 11, Algerian airspace was closed to all Emirati aircraft. The official reason was “provocative and hostile actions” by Abu Dhabi. Behind that phrasing, however, lies a conflict that had been smoldering for decades—and in which one of the key roles was played by… France.

The Emirates Chose a Side—and It Wasn’t Algeria

At the heart of the Algerian-Emirati confrontation lies the Western Sahara question. The UAE became the first Arab country to open a consulate general in El Aaiun—a city in the Moroccan-controlled territory of Western Sahara. Moreover, in December 2020, the Emirati-Moroccan venture Dahamco received approval for a $25 billion green hydrogen and ammonia project at the port of Dakhla—also in disputed Western Sahara. Abu Dhabi plans to build a “Dubai of Africa” on the territory’s southern Atlantic coast. For Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front and demands self-determination for the Sahrawi people, every Emirati investment in Western Sahara is not economics but geopolitics. Abu Dhabi converts capital into influence, and Algeria understands this perfectly.

Notably, Emirati investments in the disputed territories are not limited to a single project. According to Western Sahara Resource Watch, in 2025–2026 Morocco concluded a series of agreements reserving land for green hydrogen projects with several foreign companies. Among them is a consortium of TAQA (UAE) and Moeve (Spain), which received a plot in Dakhla, as well as the ORNX consortium (US, Spain, Germany), which was allocated a plot in El Aaiun for a $4.5 billion green ammonia project. All these projects are being implemented in territory the UN recognizes as non-self-governing, and Morocco as an occupying power that has no legal right to dispose of its lands and resources without the consent of the Sahrawi people.

The Abraham Accords: The Deal That Broke Everything

In 2020, the Trump administration proposed a deal to Morocco: normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for the US administration’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The UAE joined the same Abraham Accords—and gained expanded access to American weapons and technology. Thus an informal alliance took shape: Morocco—UAE—Israel—US. Algeria found itself encircled. And here the key role was played not by Trump and not by Netanyahu.

For Abu Dhabi, the Abraham Accords became not just a diplomatic gesture but an instrument of strategic rapprochement with Washington. As analysts note, for the UAE these accords fit into a broader strategy of consolidating partnership with the US, deepening long-standing relations with Israel, and gaining access to advanced technologies, including AI chips. Support for Moroccan claims to Western Sahara became a bargaining chip for Abu Dhabi in this great game—a price paid by the Sahrawi people.

France: Architect of the Colonial Status Quo

France is a former colonial power in both Morocco and Algeria. It was Paris that for decades blocked any UN attempts to advance a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara. As a permanent member of the Security Council, France used its veto power and diplomatic pressure to prevent meaningful progress on the issue. The Polisario Front’s representative in France, Mohamed Ali Zerouali, stated directly: “France’s responsibility for the tragedy experienced by the Sahrawi people is above all political and historical. Since Spain’s withdrawal in 1975 and the illegal Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, France has systematically supported this occupation.”

This position did not go unnoticed at the highest international level either. In August 2024, the Polisario Front officially excluded France from all international efforts to decolonize Western Sahara, including its participation in the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Sahrawi coordinator with MINURSO Sidi Mohamed Omar stated directly: “Since 1975, France has taken a hostile position toward our people, vetoing all resolutions that were not in Morocco’s favor and against the referendum and self-determination of the Sahrawi people.”

But Paris dealt the real blow in July 2024. In a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Emmanuel Macron stated: “For France, the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.” In October 2024, he repeated this personally in the Moroccan parliament: “For France, the present and future of this territory are under Moroccan sovereignty.” Algeria immediately recalled its ambassador from Paris. The Algerian Foreign Ministry called the decision “unexpected, untimely, and counterproductive,” and said the French government bore “sole and full responsibility” for the consequences.

Algeria’s reaction was not only diplomatic. In October 2024, Algeria closed its airspace to French aircraft and refused to buy French wheat—a signal that Paris would pay an economic price for its position. In its statement, the Algerian parliament called the French decision a “deviation and a risk,” emphasizing that it “represents a scandalous rejection by France of UN resolutions and advisory opinions of its bodies” and is “direct legitimization of occupation against a founding state of the African Union.”

Zerouali characterized Paris’s position as a “policy of double standards”: “We expect France not to choose between two peoples, but to make a choice between law and occupation.” Even after the resumption of French-Algerian dialogue in 2025, Paris did not change its position. In April 2025, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot again confirmed support for Moroccan sovereignty, and in October 2025 France officially stated in the UN Security Council that “the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”

The UAE Is Merely a Tool in Paris’s Hands

Algeria’s rupture with the UAE is not a conflict between two Arab states. It is a consequence of a deal that Paris was the first to approve. France was the first Western power to officially recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. It supported Morocco’s autonomy plan as the “only basis” for resolving the conflict. After that, the UAE, Israel, and the US merely picked up the signal. If France had not legitimized Moroccan claims at the highest diplomatic level, there would have been no Emirati consulate in El Aaiun, no $25 billion projects in Dakhla, and no rupture in 2026.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly emphasized: “More relevant than ever is finding a just, durable, and mutually acceptable political solution that would ensure the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.” France, with its veto power in the Security Council, ignored this position for decades.

Paris, Stop Hiding Behind Other People’s Backs!

The rupture in Algerian-Emirati relations is not about Abu Dhabi. It is about Paris, which, after leaving Algeria in 1962, never abandoned the habit of deciding the fate of North Africa from the Élysée Palace. France created the legal and diplomatic basis for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara—and thereby launched a chain reaction that today is tearing the region apart. The UAE merely took advantage of the fruits of French diplomacy. Algeria is paying the price for the French deal. And the Sahrawi people—for French silence.

As Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune put it, “when a people demands independence, its will must be respected.” France has been hearing these words for fifty years. It is time to answer.

Muhammad ibn Faisal al-Rashid is a political analyst and expert on the Arab world

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September 20, 2026 Posted by | Timeless or most popular | , , , , , | Comments Off on France, You Are Guilty: How Paris Turned Western Sahara into the Maghreb’s Powder Keg

Why Algeria finally shut the door on the UAE

Abu Dhabi’s alliance with Tel Aviv has pushed its rivalry with Algiers from quiet hostility into open regional confrontation

By Anis Raiss | The Cradle | September 14, 2026

On 10 September 2026, Algeria severed diplomatic relations with the UAE, giving the Emirati ambassador in Algiers 48 hours to leave. From midnight the following day, Algerian airspace was closed to UAE-registered aircraft, although commercial flights to and from Algiers were exempt until the end of the year.

The rupture had been signaled in advance. During a televised interview in July, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described a Gulf state he declined to name in five words: “Wherever they set foot, blood flows.” He was referring to its role in Libya, Sudan, and Yemen.

Abu Dhabi answered within hours through Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ). Relations between states, he wrote, are managed “through reason, communication and clarity of interests, not through riddles and signals that require decoding.”

One week earlier, a UN fact-finding mission on Sudan had found “reasonable grounds to believe” that external networks, including some operating through the UAE, were supplying the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur with fighters, weapons, and training.

The source of Algiers’s anger was therefore no riddle. Algeria had become the third government in nine months to take direct action against Abu Dhabi’s regional reach.

Abu Dhabi’s nine-month reckoning

The sequence began on 30 December, when a Saudi-led coalition struck weapons and vehicles that had arrived at Yemen’s Mukalla Port aboard two ships from Fujairah. Riyadh called its national security a red line and accused Abu Dhabi of arming Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatists who had swept into Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra.

The UAE denied that the shipment contained weapons but announced the withdrawal of its remaining forces after Yemen’s Saudi-backed presidential council issued a 24-hour ultimatum. A week later, STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi reportedly fled by sea toward Somaliland, then flew through Mogadishu before reaching Abu Dhabi.

Five days after that flight, Somalia’s federal government annulled its agreements with the UAE covering ports, security cooperation, and defense. Mogadishu cited “strong evidence” of actions undermining the country’s sovereignty, national unity, and political independence. The decision included Berbera, Bosaso, and Kismayo, although enforcement in Somaliland and Puntland remained uncertain. Two regional diplomats told Bloomberg that Saudi officials had pressed Mogadishu to act.

The same pattern surfaced in Sudan through an 83-page Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published in May, which found evidence that the Abu Dhabi-based Global Security Services Group appeared to have hired hundreds of Colombian contractors who fought alongside the RSF around El-Fasher.

On 3 September, the UN mission reported that as many as 2,000 former Colombian soldiers may have joined the conflict, some of whom had trained at a military-style facility in Ghayathi in the UAE before operating drones and artillery in Darfur. Abu Dhabi dismissed the findings as a “false media campaign.”

Kabylie enters Israel’s periphery map

Kabylie is the Amazigh mountain region east of Algiers, home to several million people with their own language and a long history of friction with the central state. Its separatist wing, the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), operates from Paris and was designated a terrorist organization by Algiers in 2021.

Algerian state media now alleges that UAE diplomats have been in contact with the movement, although no supporting evidence has been made public. Even a Semafor column written by a former Emirati government official conceded that point. The Kabylie project does, however, have documented patrons elsewhere.

On 14 December 2025, MAK’s government-in-exile proclaimed a “Federal Republic of Kabylie” at a ceremony in Paris. Twelve days later, Israel recognized Somaliland, becoming the first UN member to do so.

On 14 January 2026, Dan Illouz, a Likud member of the Knesset of Moroccan Jewish descent, tabled an urgent motion calling for a study of recognition for Kabylie and described Algeria as part of the “Iranian evil axis.”

The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security had already advocated “principled political support, leading over time to diplomatic recognition.” Ferhat Mehenni, the folk singer who founded MAK and styles himself as its president-in-exile, had addressed Knesset members as early as 2012.

The Somaliland precedent is where Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv converge. The UAE became the first Gulf state to normalize relations with Israel in 2020, while its port operator DP World holds a 30-year concession at Berbera, Somaliland’s main harbor, alongside a longstanding Emirati security presence.

When Arab and Islamic states issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s recognition, the UAE declined to sign. Reports have since pointed to an Emirati role in facilitating the move, leaving the breakaway territory recognized by Tel Aviv anchored to infrastructure controlled from Abu Dhabi.

These moves draw on a doctrine older than the states now applying it. David Ben Gurion’s periphery strategy sought to contain the Arab core through alliances with non-Arab states and minorities on its edges, including Iran under the Shah, Turkiye, Ethiopia, and Kurdish movements. Israel recognized Somaliland in December, and Kabylie reached the Knesset agenda the following month.

Rabat arms the western flank

The corridor linking Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv passes through Rabat, where, in November 2020, two months after the UAE signed the Abraham Accords, Abu Dhabi became the first Arab government to open a consulate in Laayoune, in occupied Western Sahara, whose independence Algeria has supported since 1975. Morocco restored its own relations with the occupation state one month later.

Military procurement soon gave that alignment material form. In early January 2026, the third session of the Morocco–Israel Joint Military Committee met in Tel Aviv to set the year’s work plan, while Israeli officials described Morocco to the Jerusalem Post as Israel’s most important security partner in Africa.

Rabat operates IAI’s Barak MX air defense system, Elbit’s ATMOS howitzers, and Hermes 900 drones. In November 2025, BlueBird Aero Systems, half-owned by IAI, opened a plant in Benslimane, outside Casablanca, to produce SpyX loitering munitions, described as the first facility of its kind in North Africa.

Spanish defense outlet Escudo Digital has also reported that Israeli-built surveillance and strike drones are stationed at Mahbes, a forward airstrip in Western Sahara close to the Algerian border. If accurate, it would place Israeli platforms within reach of Tindouf, where the Sahrawi refugee camps and Polisario leadership are based.

The economic leg of this alignment extends south through Morocco’s Atlantic Initiative, which offers landlocked Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad access to the sea through the $1.6 billion Dakhla Atlantic Port, reported to be 70 percent complete in November 2025.

The port lies in the same occupied territory where the Emirati consulate stands. On 24 July 2026, Bamako reaffirmed its commitment to the corridor, 13 days after restoring diplomatic relations with Algiers. Normalization has thus acquired its own infrastructure, running from the Gulf through the Maghreb and into the Sahel.

Algeria raises the military stakes

Algeria’s answer has centered on air power rather than competing corridors. Footage that surfaced in February 2026 appeared to show an Su-57 over northern Algeria, reinforcing reports that Algiers had become the first foreign operator of Russia’s fifth-generation fighter – a development that would alter the military balance in the Maghreb.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) had announced the delivery of two aircraft to an unnamed foreign customer in November 2025. Su-35 deliveries were reported to have begun in January 2025, followed by a fresh batch of Su-34 bombers in June 2026, even as Russia’s own air force continued to absorb wartime losses.

The hardware was accompanied by a senior Russian commander whose presence surfaced on 9 May 2025, when the Russian embassy in Algiers published photographs of a Victory Day wreath-laying led by an unnamed “head of the group of Russian military specialists in Algeria.”

Kommersant identified him as Sergei Surovikin, an assessment later echoed by British military intelligence. Surovikin had directed Russia’s Syrian air campaign, commanded its forces in Ukraine through the Kherson withdrawal, and vanished after the Wagner mutiny of June 2023. Moscow sent one of its most notorious commanders to Algiers without naming him in the caption.

Washington responded on 3 February 2026, when Robert Palladino, head of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Algeria’s Su-57 purchase was “problematic” and could trigger CAATSA sanctions.

Marco Rubio – who is now the US secretary of state – had demanded sanctions over Algeria’s Russian arms purchases in 2022. Regional alignments do not divide cleanly. Moscow and Abu Dhabi both back Khalifa Haftar in Libya, while Russia’s Africa Corps supports the Malian junta whose drone Algeria shot down in April 2025. Across Western Sahara and the Maghreb, however, the fault lines are more clearly drawn.

The defense of Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi’s official response expressed hope that the break would be “temporary.” A fuller defense appeared the next day in Semafor‘s Gulf section, where a column said the government had “run out of enemies to blame for the dismal state of its economy.”

It portrayed Algeria’s decision as a domestic maneuver, arguing that Algiers needed a new adversary after decades of blaming Morocco and had chosen a wealthy, distant state unlikely to retaliate. The Kabylie allegation was treated as a pretext for rallying the street.

Absent from that account were Mukalla, Mogadishu, El-Fasher, and Ghayathi, along with the Saudi strike on an alleged Emirati shipment, Somalia’s annulment of its agreements with Abu Dhabi, and the UN mission’s findings on UAE-linked networks in Darfur eight days before the column appeared. The nine-month record that helps explain Algiers’s actions went unmentioned.

The column’s author, Tareq Alotaiba, is a fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and a master’s student at Georgetown. According to his biography, he previously spent 12 years working in economic policy, foreign affairs, and national security for the Abu Dhabi and UAE federal governments. Algiers has its own weaknesses, including a parliamentary election turnout of 21.24 percent in July, the lowest recorded since independence. The column did not mention that figure either.

Algeria’s break with Abu Dhabi marks growing resistance to the network of ports, proxies, and separatist movements through which Emirati and Israeli power is projected across the region. Tel Aviv’s periphery doctrine depends on such footholds and on governments prepared to host them. Algiers has closed one more door.

September 14, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why Algeria finally shut the door on the UAE

Algeria cuts ties with UAE over interference, destabilization

The Cradle | September 10, 2026

Algeria announced on 10 September that it will sever its diplomatic relations with the UAE in response to “provocative or hostile actions” and after “exhausting all means to preserve bilateral relations.”

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the government had decided to “sever diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates” after exercising “great restraint and a high sense of responsibility.”

The statement said Algiers had repeatedly warned Abu Dhabi of the “grave consequences” if such actions persisted.

The ministry reported that the UAE ambassador to Algeria was officially informed of the decision and given a 48-hour deadline to comply.

Last year, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described his country’s relations as warm with all Gulf states except one, in a veiled reference to the UAE.

He described relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar as “fraternal,” while accusing the unnamed country of interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs and seeking to destabilize it.

Tensions escalated in February when Algeria began proceedings to cancel an air services agreement with the UAE signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013.

The cancellation came amid reports that the UAE was seeking to support the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), a separatist group in northern Algeria, which Algiers considers a terrorist organization.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent years amid the UAE’s efforts to destabilize states and fuel civil wars across West Asia and North Africa in partnership with Israel.

In April 2024, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune referred to the UAE when he stated that, “Wherever there is conflict, the money of this state [the Emirates] is there – in Mali, Libya, and Sudan.”

The UAE has also strongly backed Morocco in its bid to annex Western Sahara, while Algeria supports the Polisario Front, which fights for self-determination in the territory.

The UAE also supported Morocco’s normalization with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, which Algeria opposed.

Since gaining independence from France in 1962, Algeria has consistently supported the Palestinian cause, in part due to both countries’ shared history of resisting foreign colonial occupation.

Algiers cut ties with Morocco after Rabat normalized relations with Israel under US auspices in December 2020, viewing the deal as a direct threat to Algeria’s borders and security.

“Morocco’s military exercises with Israel contradict the principles of good neighborliness that we have always tried to uphold,” stated President Tebboune in an interview with French media.

September 10, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on Algeria cuts ties with UAE over interference, destabilization

How France waged secret chemical warfare in Algeria

Al Jazeera | July 22, 2026

This film is about how the French army secretly used chemical weapons in the Algerian independence war, in contravention of international law. The documentary presents archival evidence and personal testimony from former French soldiers and Algerian fighters, exposing France’s violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Historian Christophe Lafaye’s evidence includes a letter from a senior army commander to the government in 1956, which refers to the “use of chemical means”.

France set up a Special Weapons Unit in December 1956, using the same CN2D gas as in World War I, to target Algerian fighters in mountain caves. Of the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 incidents, only 440 attacks have been documented so far. One of the most devastating attacks was at Ghar Ben Shatouh in March 1959, in which an estimated 150 civilians were killed. Despite this, France did not formally ban chemical weapons until 1993, more than 30 years after Algeria’s independence.

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , | Comments Off on How France waged secret chemical warfare in Algeria

A Christmas Eve Strike on Colonialism: Algerian Parliament’s Unanimous Vote to Criminalize French Colonialism

By Simon Chege Ndiritu – New Eastern Outlook – January 5, 2026

Algeria has taken a legal step that may one day resolve many of the challenges experienced by formerly colonized peoples.

On December 24, 2025, the Algerian parliament passed a law declaring France’s colonization of the country between 1830 and 1962 illegal. The law lists France’s colonial-era atrocities against Algerians, including mass extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances, displacement and confinement, use of banned weapons, plunder of resources, and sexual violence, among others, and demands an apology and reparation. The unanimous adoption of anti-France law on the continent where association with Western Europeans gave credibility to elitist African politicians in previous decades signifies a profound shift. Both the timing and the law mark the erosion of social and legal engineering that justified colonial-era crimes, even by some independent African governments. Passing the law on Christmas Eve, when many Africans were celebrating an event spread alongside Western colonialism, sent an unmistakable message, while the legislation signified the defeat of France’s legal engineering in Algeria, which justified all aspects of colonialism and guided the Algerian government to reason in a similar way, as is the case in formerly colonized countries. This paper looks into how Algeria’s criminalization of France’s colonialism represents a crucial milestone in defeating vestiges of Western colonialism across Africa.

Defeating Colonial-Era Legal Engineering and Its Results

Algeria’s action opens a legislative front to complement other anti-colonial actions, including armed struggle and litigation. Its significance was revealed by how key European media panicked and launched into incoherent and self-indicting diversions. While other major news media, including The National Interest, Africa News, and Associated Press, foregrounded Algeria’s legislation, including its merits and implications, EU allied media, including France 24 and DW, downplayed the vote and emphasized the views of their pundits, who strangely agreed that the action was symbolic. They argued that laws passed in Algeria are internal, lacking effect outside the country, including in France, which means that all policies and laws passed in France to facilitate colonialism lacked legal bases in Algeria and other colonies. Therefore, laws made in France to authorize the invasion of Algeria, expropriation of its land, repression, forced labor, and nuclear tests were illegal, which confirms the Algerian parliament’s unanimous decision. Therefore, the media indicted France’s colonialism, including forms implemented by other European powers, before quoting an earlier statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, that Algeria’s actions hinder dialogue. Such views conceal a begrudging admission that Algeria has refused to interpret relations with France through colonial lenses, which erodes neocolonial control. Therefore, colonial-era wrongdoing, including crimes against humanity, dispossession, torture, and illegal nuclear tests, will no longer be interpreted through France’s rhetoric or be concealed through colonial legal engineering.

The key reason why Algeria’s Christmas Eve legislation unnerves European colonizers is that it signals that the former colony has overcome social and legal engineering implemented to sustain control, something that may spread to others. With time, other formerly colonized countries will no longer interpret colonial-era atrocities using colonizers’ legislative and judicial lenses that justified and sanitized racism, violence, and plunder. Such changes will leave colonizers exposed and liable. For instance, France and Great Britain provide a striking example. The legislative and judicial bodies they created served as a cover for crimes. The murder of colonized peoples was presented as “enforcing social order,” and the expropriation of land and resources as “economic development.”  Also, concentration camps for dispossessed people were framed as “reservations.” This legal perversion was passed to some post-colonial governments, which have continued to use it. However, Algeria’s move signals a shift from such engineering and entails relying on universal human rights to remodel legislatures and judiciaries, creating political systems that eradicate neocolonial control.

From armed struggle to justice

The struggle for independence did not conclude with official declarations following the armed struggles of the mid-20th century. Instead, many African countries, especially in francophone Africa, have continued facing neocolonialism and have responded, including through coups in the Sahel. The progression of the struggle from armed conflict through litigation now needs a boost through legislation to aid African victims who have continued demanding justice for colonial atrocities. The aforementioned legislation from Algiers may signal the beginning of a systematic review of colonial-era legal systems, which will expand freedoms for formerly colonized peoples. It indicates that the legal order left by European colonialists has lost legitimacy and was emphatically overthrown just before Christmas. This overthrow was a progression from previous actions, such as the Mau Mau freedom fighters of Kenya’s suing the British Government for its violations in Kenya during the 1950s. The legal suit forced the UK government to admit to violating the rights of Kenyan freedom fighters, in an out-of-court settlement in June 2013. Such a convoluted legal process occurred since the UK could not countenance being found guilty by the racist legal framework it created. However, a legal provision like the one passed in Algeria could have helped to catch the slippery colonizer.

Criminalizing colonialism may have many positive consequences for previously colonized people as they seek truth, justice, and reparations. It provides a legal framework for addressing remaining injustices and reclaiming land still held by colonialists, which is protected by colonial-era legal engineering. For instance, many Kenyans have not regained their land that was expropriated under colonial legal justification to date, primarily because the legal system in use perpetuates colonial dispossession. These victims have resorted to litigating their case in European courts, as they feel helpless since the existing laws protect current holders of land that was expropriated by the colonial government as late as the 1920s. This land should have been automatically given back to the African owners after independence in 1963. This unfortunate reality could be corrected if the legislature and judiciary were wrested back from colonial legal engineering to create laws that criminalize colonialism and illegal actions done during the colonial era.

Other Africans can learn from Algeria’s Lead.

Algeria’s action represents the continuation of the pursuit of justice by Africans and a warning to European colonialists that their conceding minimal freedoms to Africans is not the end. In places where armed struggles of the mid-20th century achieved only limited freedom, such as in the Sahel, instability persisted and culminated in recent coups through which France lost influence. In others, legal struggle continues, as seen in the case of Kenya. Additionally, others like Algeria have escalated and reversed colonial legal engineering, an aspect that will likely be used in other countries until Africans achieve their fullest extent of freedoms. The recent acceleration in decolonization of Francophone Africa should not mislead the British, Dutch, or Portuguese into thinking that their neocolonialism will continue in perpetuity. Instead, the next efforts towards defeating the remaining vestiges of colonialism might be directed towards deconstructing and reversing the legal and political engineering that gives them neocolonial control to date. Rights movements across Africa might soon start championing the criminalization of colonialism in other countries to reverse colonial-era legal and political engineering for a free Africa.

Simon Chege Ndiritu, is a political observer and research analyst from Africa

January 5, 2026 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas, other factions urge Algeria to reject US Gaza forces resolution

Al Mayadeen | November 16, 2025

The Palestinian people are closely following developments over a US draft resolution on international forces in Gaza, with Palestinian leaders expressing hope that Algeria will take a firm stance against the measure, which they say undermines Palestinian sacrifices and aspirations.

A senior Hamas official told Al Mayadeen on Sunday that the Palestinian people are hoping for an “honorable stance” from Algeria in rejecting the US draft resolution regarding international forces.

The official added that Hamas has confidence that Algeria will oppose the resolution, which they said inflicts injustice on the sacrifices and aspirations of the Palestinian people, describing the anticipated Algerian position as a source of hope for Palestinians in preventing any new international trusteeship over Gaza.

Palestinian factions call on Algeria to stand for Gaza at UNSC

Meanwhile, Palestinian Resistance factions in Gaza issued a statement expressing deep concern over the ongoing efforts at the United Nations to pass a US draft resolution proposing the deployment of international forces in the Strip. The factions described the resolution as a disguised attempt to impose a new form of occupation on Gaza and to legitimize foreign trusteeship of the Palestinian cause.

In the statement, the factions called on the Algerian government and people to maintain their long-standing principled support for Palestine and to reject any initiatives that would undermine Gaza’s identity or the right of Palestinians to self-determination. They described Algeria’s historical position on Palestine as a source of genuine hope for the Palestinian people and a reflection of the Arab world’s independent popular stance.

The factions stressed that any foreign intervention in Gaza, regardless of its title or justification, constitutes a “violation of Palestinian sovereignty and perpetuates the suffering of the local population.” They emphasized that lasting security and stability can only be achieved by ending the occupation, lifting the blockade, and respecting the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Expressing confidence in Algeria’s supportive position, the statement urged all Arab and Muslim countries, as well as free peoples around the world, to stand against the US resolution and reject any form of foreign tutelage or intervention, defending Gaza’s right to freedom, dignity, and independence.

November 16, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Algeria demands UNSC stop ‘Greater Israel’ project, end Gaza famine

Al Mayadeen | August 23, 2025

Algeria has held the UN Security Council responsible for thwarting the “Greater Israel” project and for safeguarding the foundations of the “two-state solution”, which it described as “the cornerstone of any just, lasting, and final settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.”

Regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip, Algeria’s Foreign Ministry affirmed that the United Nations’ official declaration of a state of famine in the Strip constitutes an extremely dangerous precedent and a first of its kind in the history of the Palestinian cause and the history of the region.

The Ministry added in its statement on Saturday that the most condemnable and reprehensible aspect is that this full-fledged famine is not a product of unavoidable circumstances, but is rather a deliberate political choice and a result of planning and orchestration by the Israeli occupation.

Famine consistent with ‘Greater Israel’ project

It further clarified that this declared famine is entirely consistent with, and inseparable from, the project of forced displacement, the project of reoccupying Gaza, and what has come to be known as the “Greater Israel” project.

Algeria strongly condemned these policies and practices imposed on the Palestinian people as part of the ongoing war of annihilation in Gaza and, as a Security Council member, stressed its commitment to continuing its diplomatic efforts to support the Palestinian people and work toward ending this unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Furthermore, Algeria called for “action to expedite the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State with al-Quds as its capital.”

This comes as the Israeli occupation forces continue their genocidal war and deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip, with the latest figures from the Health Ministry reporting that the aggression has now claimed 62,622 lives and caused 157,673 injuries since October 7, 2023.

Moreover, 281 people, including 114 children, have perished due to starvation, while an additional 2,076 were killed and more than 15,308 were injured by the occupation’s targeting of civilians awaiting aid at various distribution points throughout the Strip.

August 23, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Delegates from 32 nations march to Gaza, call for end to blockade and genocide

MEMO | June 9, 2025

An international solidarity march set off towards the Gaza Strip yesterday, aiming to break the ongoing blockade and demand an end to what participants describe as the genocide being committed by Israel since 7 October 2023.

Thousands of supporters from 32 countries are taking part in the march, with plans to reach Gaza’s border through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Their goals include delivering humanitarian aid and expressing support for the Palestinian people.

Organisers said the participating convoys are expected to gather in Cairo on Thursday, before heading to the city of Arish in north-eastern Egypt. From there, participants will continue on foot towards the Rafah border crossing, where protest tents are planned to be set up.

The main organisers, the “Global March to Gaza”, said it has representatives in most European, North and South American countries, as well as in several Arab and Asian nations. This, it said, reflects growing international momentum in support of the Palestinian cause.

Leading the march is Algeria’s “Caravan of Steadfastness,” which departed from the capital Algiers yesterday towards Tunisia. From there, it will join the Tunisian convoy and continue through Libya to Egypt, with the aim of eventually reaching Gaza.

“The Caravan of Steadfastness set off on Sunday towards Tunisia. It will join the Tunisian convoy, travel through Libya to Egypt, and from there to Gaza via Rafah,” said Sheikh Yahya Sari, head of the Algerian Initiative to Support Palestine and Aid Gaza, in a statement.

June 9, 2025 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism | , , , | Leave a comment

Algeria demands France acknowledge ‘nuclear crimes’ committed on its soil

MEMO | February 14, 2025

The speaker of Algeria’s lower house of parliament yesterday called on France to officially acknowledge its responsibility for “nuclear crimes” it committed during its colonial era in the North African country, Anadolu reported.

“We demand with one voice an official recognition from France of its full responsibility for these nuclear crimes,” Ibrahim Boughali, speaker of the People’s National Assembly, told an event commemorating France’s first nuclear test in Algeria on 13 February 1960.

Algeria cannot accept “a mere political acknowledgment, but an acknowledgement followed by a clear moral commitment” from France, he added.

France carried out its first nuclear test in 1960, named Blue Jerboa (Gerboise Bleue in French), in the Reggane desert of southern Algeria. Paris continued its nuclear tests on Algerian territory until 1966.

Boughali said that France had carried out 17 nuclear explosions in the area, leaving devastating effects that persist to this day.

The nuclear tests “were a dark chapter in [the French] colonial history that continues to cast its shadow, as its dangerous and destructive effects continue to affect the environment and humanity,” he added.

The Algerian speaker called for forcing France to compensate the victims of the nuclear tests and clean up nuclear waste in Algeria.

Diplomatic relations between Algeria and France remain volatile, particularly due to unresolved issues stemming from France’s colonisation of Algeria for 132 years (1830–1962). Paris has refused to fully address the historical grievances that continue to affect Algerian society.

February 15, 2025 Posted by | Militarism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Algeria Parliament accuses French President of ‘blatant interference’ in internal affairs

MEMO | January 7, 2025

The Algerian Parliament accused French President, Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday of “blatant interference” in the North African country’s internal affairs, Anadolu Agency reports.

Macron, on Monday, criticised Algeria, calling the detention of Franco-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, at Algiers Airport in November a “disgraceful matter”.

In a statement, the People’s National Assembly, the first house of parliament, called Macron’s remarks “irresponsible” and represented an “affront to Algeria’s sovereignty and dignity” in a case currently under judicial review under Algerian law.

The statement termed Macron’s comments an “overt attempt to tarnish the image of Algeria and its sovereign institutions.”

The Assembly emphasized Algeria’s firm rejection of any foreign interference, particularly regarding issues related to human rights and freedoms.

“Algeria, which endured horrific violations during the French colonial era, will not accept external lessons on these matters,” the statement said.

Such actions are “unacceptable to the Algerian people and will not deter Algeria from its independent path. Instead, they strengthen its resolve to protect its sovereignty and dignity,” it added.

The Assembly called on French authorities to respect the principles of international relations, including mutual respect.

During his meeting with French ambassadors at the Élysée Palace on Monday, Macron claimed that Algeria “prevented a seriously ill man from receiving treatment” and called for Sansal’s release.

“We who love the people of Algeria and its history urge its government to release Boualem Sansal,” he said.

Two weeks earlier, Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accused France of “sending an illegitimate figure” – an apparent reference to Sansal – to claim that parts of Algeria’s territory once belonged to another country.

Sansal, a former industry ministry official dismissed in 2002, had previously asserted in French media that large parts of north-western Algeria historically belonged to Morocco.

The Algerian authorities arrested Sansal on 16 November at Algiers Airport upon his return from France.

Local media reported that he was charged under Article 87 of the Penal Code, facing accusations of undermining national unity and territorial integrity, according to his defence team.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , , , | Leave a comment

Algeria condemns French ambassador over ‘hostile plans’

Al Mayadeen | December 15, 2024

Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stephane Romatet for what it dubbed “hostile plans” by the French intelligence service, Algerian media reported on Sunday,

Romatet was summoned to the Foreign Ministry last week to answer allegations of French intelligence participation in destabilizing efforts in Algeria, according to the state-run publication El Moudjahid.

The summoning came following reports that the French intelligence service had recruited former Algerian terrorists to destabilize the country’s security.

It referenced the instance of Mohamed Amine Aissaoui, who recently made a live confession on Algerian television about a suspected plot orchestrated by French intelligence.

Algerian officials told the French envoy that such measures “won’t go unanswered” and that they will not stand idly by in response to “attacks on its sovereignty,” according to the newspaper.

There was no French response to the Algerian media claim.

This event adds to Algeria and France’s already difficult ties, which have been hampered by disagreements over historical memory, migration, and the Western Sahara conflict.

Last month, the Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Institutions banned all import and export transactions with France in reaction to its acknowledgment of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.

Morocco primarily controls Western Sahara, but the Polisario Front has advocated for the territory’s independence since before Spain, its colonial ruler, withdrew in 1975. The United Nations classifies it as a “non-autonomous territory.”

Rabat, which governs around 80% of the territory, supports a plan for limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. In contrast, the Polisario Front is demanding a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, which was intended to be established following the ceasefire in 1991 but has yet to be implemented.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , | Leave a comment

Russia’s Amended Nuclear Doctrine Signals Willingness to Take On ‘Global Power Obligations’ – Expert

Sputnik – 19.11.2024

The latest changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine were likely made for two main reasons, Mikael Valtersson, former Swedish military officer and ex-chief of staff with the Sweden Democrats, tells Sputnik.

“One is to make it even clearer that even attacks from Ukraine with conventional weapons with the active support of Western powers will be seen as a combined attack on Russia,” he says. “This will give Russia the opportunity to claim Casus belli [an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war], and legitimate defensive military action according to international law and the UN Charter.”

This move, Valtersson argues, is essentially an attempt by Russia to “strengthen deterrence towards the West and reduce the risk of Western escalation in Ukraine.”

“The second and very interesting aspect is the inclusion of allies in the nuclear deterrence,” he continues. “This must be seen in the light of the recent ratification of the new defense cooperation agreement with the DPRK (North Korea) that includes a paragraph akin to the NATO article 5. This stipulates mutual military aid to defend each other in case of aggression from other countries.”

“With the changes of Russian nuclear strategy, Russia says that aggression towards it’s allies will be seen as aggression towards Russia and might include a nuclear response,” Valtersson notes. “The Russian nuclear doctrine now reflects the fact that Russia has formal allies again.”

As Russia’s actions resulted in NATO ceasing to be the only military bloc in the post-Cold War world whose members “have been included in a common nuclear umbrella,” Valtersson suggests that this development has both pros and cons for Moscow.

“This makes Russia a more attractive ally, but also puts Russia into a more precarious situation, since it now has stronger obligations to live up to. A failure to live up to these obligations would result in a huge loss of confidence in Russian willingness to support allies, and the Kremlin of course knows this,” he elaborates. “That means that this decision to change the nuclear doctrine must be seen as a real willingness of Russia to extend its nuclear deterrence to other allies.”

Valtersson also remarks that it would be interesting to see what new defense agreements Russia might sign with nations such as Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Algeria “and a multitude of Sub-Saharan states,” which could both “greatly increase the security of these states and Russian standing in the world” and, “increase the risk of Russian involvement in new conflicts.”

“To summarise, this is a clear signal that Russia now is willing to take on the obligations that are needed to be a real global power,” he adds.

November 19, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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