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After a brief break, Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum resumed a tour in Africa he started earlier in January. Ten days before an online African Union ordinary summit, scheduled for February 6 and 7 in Addis Ababa, the Algerian diplomat visited the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 25 and 26. In Kinshasa, he held talks with his counterpart Tumba Nzeza Marie and President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi.
The latter will assume on February 6 the rotating presidency of the African Union and the Western Sahara troika for one year. Tshisekedi will be replacing the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a great ally of the Polisario.
Through this visit, Algiers aims to make sure the territorial dispute always remains among the issues handled by the troika, created in July 2018 during the Nouakchott summit. An objective that the department of Sabri Boukaoum implicitly affirms in a press release relayed by the country’s press agency APS.
«The minister's trip to Kinshasa is part of Algeria’s efforts to strengthening bilateral relations and examining ways and means to develop cooperation between the two countries, and consultation on regional and international issues of common interest, especially as the DRC is taking over the rotating presidency of the African Union».
The DRC has just opened a consulate in Dakhla
This visit shows how Algeria is changing its opinion regarding the African Union troika. In a speech delivered during the extraordinary meeting of the AU executive council on December 2, Sabri Boukadoum declared «the failure of the troika mechanism».
He even proposed that «the African Peace and Security Council assume the responsibility entrusted to it», to be able to address the Western Sahara question. At the end of the extraordinary summit on December 5 and 6, the Algerian and Polisario media also celebrated the end of the troika and the «return of the Sahara issue in the hands of the Peace and Security Council».
تشرفت اليوم بلقاء رئيس جمهورية الكونغو الديمقراطية، السيد فيليكس تشيسيكيدي، حيث تطرقنا إلى مجموعة من المسائل المتعلقة بالعلاقات الثنائية وكذا القضايا الاقليمية والدولية ذات الاهتمام المشترك، تحسبا لتوليه رئاسة الاتحاد الافريقي الشهر المقبل. pic.twitter.com/N48XgHUjO9
— Sabri Boukadoum | صبري بوقدوم (@Boukadoum_S) January 26, 2021
For the record, on the eve of Boukadoum's announcement on the mechanism, Morocco’s African affairs minister Mohcine Jazouli, went to Kinshasa carrying a message from King Mohammed VI to President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi. The country opened a consulate in Dakhla on December 19, in a ceremony chaired by Nasser Bourita and Tumba Nzeza Marie.
In Kinshasa, Boukadoum also met with the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs. Since Algeria supported Sudan's split, relations have been cold.
The Algerian diplomat’s trip to the DRC was preceded by a tour of South Africa, Lesotho, Angola and Kenya, intended to prepare for the AU summit and to ward off any attempt on the part of Morocco and its allies to exclude the Polisario from the ranks of the continental organization, in accordance with Article 32 of the AU Charter.
