As usual, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received, on Thursday, May 11, an official invitation from King Salman of Saudi Arabia to participate in the upcoming Arab League summit, scheduled for May 19 in Jeddah.
During the previous summit in Algiers (last November 1 and 2), President Tebboune did the same with all kings and presidents of the member states of the Arab Organization. Some came, others were represented.
More than their content and the decisions that are taken, the success of the Arab summits is evaluated first by the level of representation of the countries.
Although eight heads of state did not travel to Algiers, the summit is considered very successful from the point of view of representation, given the high number of defections recorded during several successive summits.
What will happen to the one who is preparing to host Saudi Arabia, which is one of the most important countries in the Arab and Islamic world? The question is particularly valid for the decision that the Algerian president will take. Will Tebboune be personally present in Jeddah, or will he represent him?
If one wonders about this a week before the summit, it is not without reason. First, because neither King Salman nor his son and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, made the trip to Algiers last November.
The Saudi prince and the prince were on the list of absentees, along with the Moroccan monarch King Mohammed VI, the Jordanian monarch King Abdullah II, the Lebanese president, the Emirati president Mohammed bin Zayed, and almost all the rulers of the Gulf, except for the emir of Qatar.
Muhammad bin Salman had put forward health reasons, explaining to the Algerian president, in a telephone interview, that his doctors had advised him to avoid air travel. The Presidency of the Republic was informed of the contents of this telephone interview.
Arab Summit in Jeddah: What will Tebboune decide?
Algeria could resort to the principle of reciprocity, which is one of the basics of its diplomacy, and it is very likely.
Another element that raises questions about Algeria’s representation at the highest level is its lack of participation in the restricted discussions about Syria’s reintegration into the Arab League, after 12 years of ban.
Algeria is one of the countries that strongly called for the return of Syria, but for reasons that are still unknown, it did not participate in the two meetings that preceded the announcement of the merger of Bashar al-Assad’s country.
The first was held in Jeddah on April 15 between the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.
The second meeting was held in Amman (Jordan) on the first of May and included the heads of diplomacy from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria. It should be noted that one of the main points of the upcoming summit will be the endorsement of the decision to reintegrate Syria, which was taken by the foreign ministers of the League of Arab States on Sunday, May 7 in Cairo.
According to our sources, Tebboune’s presence at the Jeddah summit is unlikely, but nothing has been decided yet in Algiers.
the ” official follies “and the” Unhealthy games From Saudi Arabia towards Algeria during the preparation for the Arab summit in Jeddah, we do not appeal in favor of the presence of the Algerian president at this summit, our sources explained.
The current president of the Council of the League of Arab States, Algeria was not appreciated. absence Coordination by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in preparation for the Jeddah summit.
She was not invited to attend the Amman Mini Summit on Syria. The head of diplomacy was not present during the meeting of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers of the League of Arab States, during which the return of Syria within the Arab organization was approved.
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