Saudi Arabia courts Algeria as Gulf rivalry with UAE deepens

Algiers (Somalia Today) — Saudi Arabia is moving to assemble a stronger Arab coalition to counter the growing influence of the United Arab Emirates, reaching out to Algeria as a key partner in a widening regional power struggle, well-informed sources said.

In a signal of this strategic shift, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif travelled to Algiers on January 19, for high-level talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

While official channels described the meeting as a routine discussion on “bilateral relations and security cooperation,” sources briefed on the matter described the visit as politically charged.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to capitalize on Algeria’s sour relations with the UAE and aims to enlist Algiers’ support in strengthening its regional position.

The meeting comes as the once-lockstep alliance between Saudi Arabia and the UAE fractures over diverging interests in Yemen, Sudan, and the broader Horn of Africa.

A ‘hostile’ rift

Consequently, Algeria has moved to the centre of this Gulf rivalry following a sharp decline in its relations with the UAE.

According to security sources and Algerian media reports, Algiers is weighing severing diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi over what it describes as “hostile manoeuvres.”

The focal point of the tension is the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), a Paris-based separatist group that Algeria has designated a terrorist organisation.

Algerian officials have privately accused the UAE of providing financial and logistical support to the MAK, alleging that Abu Dhabi is coordinating with Israel and Morocco to destabilise Algeria’s national unity.

“The idea that a foreign state would assist a separatist current inside Algeria is treated not as criticism… but as a hostile act,” a source familiar with Algerian security doctrine said.

President Tebboune has previously hinted at this friction.

In a meeting of Algeria’s High Security Council earlier this year, officials expressed regret over “hostile actions” by a “brotherly Arab country.” This reference was widely interpreted by diplomats as targeting the UAE.

Proxy battlegrounds

The courting of Algeria is part of a broader Saudi pushback against Emirati influence, which Riyadh increasingly views as a structural threat to regional stability rather than mere diplomatic competition.

The divergence is most visible in Sudan, where the two Gulf powers effectively back opposing sides in the civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

While critics accuse the UAE of supplying the RSF, Saudi Arabia has hosted ceasefire talks in Jeddah and leans toward preserving the state institutions backed by the army.

In Yemen, the split looks just as sharp: the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council frequently clashes with the Saudi-backed presidential leadership.

Strategic convergence

Sources indicate that Saudi policymakers are now willing to widen their network of alliances to check Emirati ambitions.

The interior minister’s visit to Algiers offered a channel to deepen intelligence sharing and monitor “hostile networks.” Saudi Arabia aims to partner with Algeria, recognizing its staunch defense of sovereignty, to align with the kingdom’s strategic goal of regional primacy.

By strengthening ties with Algeria—a country historically wary of external interference—Saudi Arabia appears to be testing the viability of a new Arab front against what it sees as destabilising Emirati ambitions.

“If Algeria moves toward formal escalation with the UAE, it will serve as a marker that Abu Dhabi’s methods are generating tangible geopolitical consequences,” a regional analyst noted.

Ultimately, as both Gulf states race to build competing blocs across Africa—illustrated by Saudi Arabia’s recent defence pact with Pakistan and the UAE’s deepening military ties with India—the meeting in Algiers signals that the rivalry is hardening into a contest for the future regional order.