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

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

The Rupture That Was 50 Years in the Making

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:........

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