High-ranking American delegation visits Algiers

Assistant US Secretary of State for the Near East and North Africa David Schenker, accompanied by senior US Air Force officials, is in Algiers on Thursday for a visit focused on the situation in the Maghreb, in the part of a regional tour.

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His visit will provide an opportunity to "

strengthen dialogue and consultation between Algeria and the United States on bilateral as well as regional and international issues of common interest, in particular Western Sahara, the situation in Libya and the Sahel

" , specifies the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.

Arrived Wednesday evening in Algiers after having visited Jordan, David Schenker was received Thursday by the head of Algerian diplomacy Sabri Boukadoum.

He was also to meet with the Minister of Finance, Aymen Benabderahmane, and the Minister of Commerce Kamel Rezig.

“

This meeting was an opportunity to conduct a full and frank assessment of bilateral relations between the two countries and to exchange views on the nature of the expected role of the United States at the international and regional levels to face the current challenges

”, commented on Twitter Mr. Boukadoum.

The 48-hour visit of the US official comes in a tense regional context, with conflicts in Libya and the Sahel, and after a resumption in November of hostilities in the disputed region of Western Sahara between the Moroccan army and the Polisario Front separatist, supported by Algiers.

"

We have many common interests, especially in promoting regional stability

," said Schenker, who is accompanied by the Secretary of the Air Force (USAF), Barbara Barrett, and the chief of the USAF in Europe and Africa, General Jeffrey Harrigian, said the United States Embassy in Algeria in a statement.

After Algeria, he must go to Morocco.

This visit comes three months after the regional tour of US Minister of Defense Mark Esper, since sacked by Donald Trump, which aimed to strengthen military cooperation with countries in the region in the fight against jihadists and security in North Africa , in Libya and the Sahel.

It was the first visit to Algeria by a sitting US Minister of Defense since 2006.

"

Algeria has hard-earned expertise in security and countering violent extremism, and we can only have respect for its capabilities,

" said Barrett.

If the instability in Libya and the Sahel is a matter of mutual concern for Algiers and Washington, the recognition by the United States of the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara, in return for a normalization of relations between Rabat and the Hebrew state, has been strongly criticized by Algiers.

The US decision on Western Sahara is fueling new tensions between the two neighboring states, with Algeria saying its support for Palestinians and Sahrawis in the Polisario Front remains unchanged.