Algeria Destined Security Cooperation Towards China and Russia

Relationship between Algeria and countries, that are affiliated to the Eastern Bloc earlier, noticed a movement that is distinguished by the visit, which led the Minister of Maghreb Affairs, the African Union and the Arab League, Abdelkader Messahel, to the Russia, as well as those leading “Wu Seiki”, the Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of China to Algeria, a movement that is distinguished by suspicions of establishing a military base for NATO in Tunis.

Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, is visiting the Russian capital Moscow from Monday, while the Special Representative of the Chinese Foreign Minister to Algeria, is present in the agenda of coordination between Algeria and its traditional partners, particularly with respect to matters that are relating to security, terrorism, regional conflicts, and economic considerations.

Agenda of the Minister Messahel seems rich with meetings of Russian officials, whose country is living in the heart of the conflicts in the Middle East, and in Syria, in particular, and with a lesser extent than Iraq and Yemen, the two countries which are considered a partner of Moscow and Iran, where they present therein with a matter that fuels of sectarian strife between Shiites and Sunnis in the Arab region.

Algerian minister’s visit to Moscow comes a few days after the death of Russian pilots in Syria following the shooting down of a Syrian army helicopter, which made the Russian diplomat Vitoslav Motozov, consider the visit of Messahel as very important, in view of Algeria’s experience in the field of counter-terrorism, which will be of a benefit for Russia frequently, as he said, noting that the Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, visited Moscow last April.

Chinese party is sharing the preoccupation on security with Russia in the talks, which was expressed by delegates of Beijing to Algeria, and who said after talks with Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, that his visit comes in the framework of exchanging views between the two sides about how to deepen bilateral cooperation, politically, economically and in security matters, including counter-terrorism, and to deepen cooperation to resolve the various issues on the regional, international and political levels.

Movement of visits between Algeria and all of Moscow and Beijing comes in the wake of the declaration of the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, last Saturday for the NATO’s decision to establish an intelligence military base in Tunis, a news that was met with caution by the Algerian authorities, given the historical relationship in the crisis between Algeria and the alliance that took of the Brussels a base.

Announcement of the establishment of a NATO military base in Tunis is an extension of previous leaks that spoke about the establishment of an Atlantic military bases in the eastern neighbour to Algeria, due to helping to control the movement of armed groups on its territories and on the Libyan territories, the leaks that have been met with much local media and political fanfare, which results are postponing the project to the very last days.

Although Algeria expressed, more than one time, its willingness for security intelligence cooperation with Western countries, particularly the United States, which the powerful member in the NATO, but that does not mean its consent to establish an Atlantic base near the eastern border, because of the fears that the goal of this base is spying on Algeria, and it cannot be squandered as soon as it will receive assurances from Tunisia or from the Atlantic alliance itself.