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Ahmed Attaf has praised the Trump administration for its active role in efforts to resolve the Sahara dispute. Speaking Sunday, Algeria’s foreign minister said his country «welcomed» the American initiative in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on October 31.
The outreach toward Washington comes at a particularly sensitive moment. The projectiles fired on May 5 by armed Polisario elements at the city of Smara marked a major turning point in the Sahara issue. According to sources familiar with the matter, Algerian authorities were caught off guard by the scale and speed of the Trump administration’s reaction and are now seeking to ease tensions with Washington, particularly after the criticism voiced by Ambassador Duke Buchan over the Polisario Front’s refusal to take part in a new round of talks.
«While the American diplomat’s message focused on the separatist movement, Buchan’s anger was very clearly directed at Algeria», a source close to the matter told Yabiladi.
Attaf’s remarks were preceded by outreach efforts by Algeria’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., Sabri Boukadoum, toward former U.S. diplomat Elizabeth Moore-Aubin. The two met during an event organized on May 16 in Washington by the US-Algeria Business Council.
«Boukadoum’s mission was to explain to the American side that his government had not authorized the Smara attack. Unconvinced by this version of events, the diplomat advised the Algerians to take immediate decisions so that this chapter could be definitively closed», Yabiladi learned from sources familiar with the exchange.
A general seen as close to Washington appointed head of domestic intelligence
A few days after the meeting between Boukadoum and Moore-Aubin, and following the criticism expressed by Ambassador Duke Buchan, Algeria’s leadership officially removed General Abdelkader Aït Ouarabi, known as «Hassan», from the head of the domestic intelligence services on Thursday, May 21, replacing him with General Mounir Zahi.
The air force officer is considered close to the Americans. In December 2023 in Algiers, he co-chaired, alongside former acting U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Jennifer Zakriski and in the presence of Elizabeth Moore-Aubin, a session of the Algeria-U.S. Strategic Dialogue dedicated to military cooperation.
Appointed deputy head of domestic intelligence last December, Mounir Zahi reportedly saw his promotion accelerated following the Smara attack, while General «Hassan» will not even have completed a full year at the head of the service after being appointed on May 24, 2025.
According to sources cited by Yabiladi, the reshuffle at the top of Algeria’s domestic intelligence services is intended to present General «Hassan» as the figure allegedly responsible for authorizing the Polisario rocket fire targeting Smara.
