Three years after his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra left the Algerian government. Back to a change far from trivial
In the middle of the afternoon of Thursday, March 16, private and official Algerian television channels began to broadcast a red spot, in large print, a flash: the Presidency of the Republic announced an “imminent reshuffle” of the government team.
At this point, the only question nagging journalists and observers is who should replace Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra. More than for his ten other colleagues dismissed from the government, his fate had been sealed for several weeks already.
In Algiers, many journalists and diplomats had known for several months that Ramtane Lamamra was on an ejection seat. A seasoned diplomat, connoisseur of the workings of the African Union and the United Nations, the one who embodied Algerian diplomacy for the past three years was obviously not in the good graces of the head of state, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
From his first year of presidency, the latter had indeed set his sights on another recognized diplomat, Sabri Boukadoum, to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs. But Algeria had a great diplomatic ambition that only a man of Lamamra’s stature could bring to fruition, it was thought in the presidential entourage.
The President of the Republic had therefore resigned himself to recalling the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Charismatic, a man of networks and a polyglot, Lamamra, 70, has mainly entered Africa, a continent that Abdelmadjid Tebboune aimed to reconquer.
“Presidential ambitions”?
But after a few months, dissensions begin to appear. In certain Algiers circles, it is whispered that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has “presidential ambitions”. And that they would already date from 2019, after the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to resign by a popular revolt, the hirak.
So, failing to dismiss him, we put obstacles in his way. “Some decisions are made without his knowledge. Worse, government media are also being asked not to publicize his activities,” a diplomatic source told Middle East Eye.
Annoyed, Lamamra has “submitted his resignation three times” in the last year, a former minister who knows him well told. According to him, however, the man “would never dare to run for president if Mr. Tebboune presented himself”.
Each time, for “reasons of state”, the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs is rejected. He always ends up reappearing after several days, even weeks, during which he slips away, often touring African or Arab countries.
This game of cat and mouse between the former Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union and the Algerian presidential entourage lasts several months. But at the beginning of February, events accelerated.
On the 8th, the Algerian and French media reported that the Algerian-French activist and opponent Amira Bouraoui managed to leave Tunisia with the consular assistance of France. This causes a new crisis between Paris and Algiers. A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evokes the “anger” of the Algerian authorities, who accuse “French state services” of having “exfiltrated” the activist to France.
A few minutes later, it was the Presidency of the Republic which announced the recall of the Algerian ambassador to Paris “for consultation”. In insider circles, it is assumed that this outcry was made without the consent of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose long eclipse moreover coincided with this date.
Replaced by “a man of compromise”
The day after this new quarrel between Algiers and Paris, the Algerian media announce that “the President of the Republic has operated a movement in the diplomatic corps having affected ambassadors and general consuls of several capitals in the world”.
Once again, the Presidency of the Republic would not have associated the head of diplomacy with this operation. Other media sources put forward a different version. “Lamamra presented a list of ambassadors and consuls that the presidency refused and substituted another for him,” a journalist familiar with the workings of Algerian diplomacy told.
Other sources mention an additional reason for this rupture: the Algerian president has decided to allocate a budget of 1 billion dollars to the Algerian Agency for International Cooperation – attached to the presidency – to finance development projects in certain countries. Africans. Lamamra didn’t like it and “would have asked for the file to be handled by his department”, a journalist told.
As with every twist of fate, Ramtane Lamamra remains silent. He prefers to withdraw from the public scene. This eclipse was interrupted only briefly to receive, on February 23, copies of the credentials of the new ambassadors accredited to Algiers.
He also attends a ceremony organized in honor of members of the Algerian Civil Protection who took part in the rescue of populations affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
But apart from these appointments, all the other receptions, including those of ministers who came to Algiers, are provided by the secretary general of the ministry, Amar Belani.
Speculation was then rife on a withdrawal of Lamamra, some thinking of a possible “disease”. However, on March 11, the doubts began to dissipate. When Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni comes to Algiers for a state visit, it is still Amar Belani who is in charge of reception, alongside President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and other senior officials.
The following day, the images of the arrival at Algiers airport of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy are striking: Josep Borrell can only find a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Then, the program of the visit of the European official is amputated by a lunch initially planned with the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is once again Amar Benali who replaces the head of the diplomacy during a meal shared between Mr. Borrell and Mr. Tebboune.
From now on, it is no longer a question of whether Ramtane Lamamra will leave the government, but when. In the chancelleries and the corridors of the Algiers newsrooms, people are beginning to speculate about the identity of the future Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Against all expectations, Abdelmadjid Tebboune did not appoint Amar Belani to replace Ramtane Lamamra, as suggested by the media and diplomats, including supporters of Josep Borrell. The president recalled a former incumbent, Ahmed Attaf. Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 1999, this 71-year-old man had nevertheless left all official functions for more than 24 years.
Reputed to be “a man of compromise”, he is also known to be an “old-fashioned” diplomat who “is not divisive”. Qualities that he has not yet demonstrated since taking office, he has not yet made his actions known. As for Lamamra, some are already predicting a “promising” future for him, while others believe that his career is over, even if the future may hold surprises.
