Abdelmajdid Tebboune is not at all satisfied with the work that his country's representative to the United Nations has been doing for a little over a year. This is the time it has taken the Algerian president to dispense with Nadir Larbaoui, according to information published exclusively by Maghreb Intelligence. Sources consulted by Maghreb Intelligence claim that the decision, far from Larbaoui being sent to a position of greater responsibility, as the close circle of the Algerian representative to the UN has claimed, is due to the president's dissatisfaction with his performance in the post in recent months.
Nadir Larbaoui began to gain a good reputation in Algeria for the numerous confrontational chapters he played against his Moroccan counterpart, Omar Hilale. Now, that trend seems to have waned and Tebboune wants to bring back the hard line against his regional adversary, which is why his idea is to put Amar Belani as Algeria's representative to the UN. The diplomat who will presumably replace Larbaoui is characterised by a fierce "anti-Moroccan" stance, which he has made no secret of.
In August last year, Belani claimed that "Morocco asks its allies to violate international law" in reference to the Sahara issue. Moreover, in an interview with La Patrie News, he described Morocco's policy on the Saharawi situation as "ridiculous", the same adjective he used to refer to the Alawi kingdom's efforts to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organisation. Morocco, however, has always remained calm about these accusations, especially in view of the growing support for the proposal for autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, with Spain as the latest example.
This change in Algeria's representation at the UN is no coincidence. The crisis engulfing Tebboune's government has pushed Algiers towards a more belligerent stance against Morocco. Algerian society's distrust of its leaders is growing, and the government is focusing on its Moroccan neighbour, especially since the publication of a geographical map in the magazine Maroc Hebdo, which cut off part of Algerian territory within the framework of Western Sahara. This was soon met with a response from Algiers.
Brahim Boughali, president of the National People's Assembly, was quick to express the Algerian army's readiness to dissuade any expansionist aims on the part of the Alawite kingdom. However, observers point to this as yet another smokescreen to divert attention from Algeria's internal problems. At the same time, it is clear to Rabat that the progress made with many countries, including the United States as a major ally, makes it difficult for its neighbour to take the step of disturbing the peace in North Africa.
