Lamamra: “Algeria won’t isolate Egypt and won’t sever relations with it”

Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, has said that Algeria has neither asked for the suspension nor for the exclusion of any member of the African Union, adding that the freeze of Egypt’s participation in the meetings of the Pan African body is a “preventive measure” to encourage the return to constitutional order.

Taking the floor during a joint press conference on Monday in Algiers together with his visiting Egyptian opposite number, Nabil Fahmi, Mr Lamamra indicated that Algeria had not taken part in the suspension of any African state going through a situation of political instability, neither in Mauritania, nor in Mali, nor in Niger nor elsewhere stressing that Algeria upheld the AU’s doctrine and the texts, as he put it.

He explained that the decisions adopted with regard to Egypt were only tantamount to a simple preventive measure with the objective of clearing the way for the restoration of constitutional order in this country.

Concerning the visit paid to Algeria by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra described such a visit as “a qualitative leap forward” in the dialogue and political consultations between the two countries and a renewal of their common will to bolster bilateral cooperation and coordination on various regional and international issues of common concern.