Ramtane Lamamra’s Return to the Foreign Ministry of Algeria Despite Being "Bouteflika's Wizard"

 

On the proposal of the Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Abdel Rahman, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed, on July 7, 2021, Ramtane Lamamra, to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had previously held the position under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The appointment of Ramtane Lamamra during Bouteflika's era was considered a surprise to the political circles and angered the street, as Lamamra was one of the figures who led vigorous efforts to save Bouteflika's rule through his foreign tours, after the outbreak of the popular movement on February 22, 2019.

Bouteflika's resignation in April 2019 was immediately followed by the withdrawal of Lamamra from the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

 

Solve the Crisis

In a statement to the Russian "Sputnik" network, Algerian Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Fouad Sbouta, said: "Lamamra's return to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his assignment also to the affairs of the community abroad indicates many things."

He added that "many files have been stuck for a while, in addition to the recent developments in the Libyan file, as well as the situation in Mali, what is happening on the Algerian-Moroccan border, and the developments between the two countries, and that Lamamra's return is linked to all these files."

Lamamra had previously played a pivotal role in the crisis in Libya, before the killing of its leader, Muammar Gaddafi. He tried to emphasize  the African principle of not allowing any military intervention in Libya. He also proposed from his aforementioned position a series of political solutions to overcome the Libyan crisis at the time.

On April 16, 2020, he announced his withdrawal of his approval of the proposal submitted to him by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, on March 7, 2020, to be a UN envoy and head of mission in Libya.

At the time, he said to Lamamra: "I gave him my initial approval out of my commitment to the brotherly Libyan people and the international and regional bodies concerned with finding a solution to the Libyan crisis. It seems that the consultations undertaken by Guterres since then do not enjoy the unanimity of the Security Council and other actors, which is a necessary consensus for the success of the peace mission." and national reconciliation in Libya.

On April 21, 2020, the spokesman for the Algerian presidency and Minister of Communication Mohamed Said Belaid stated that the reservation of a member of the Security Council about the nomination of Lamamra to occupy the position of UN envoy “is due to local considerations driven by some regimes that have no interest in solving the problem of the Libyan people, and that this is a failure of the Secretary General of the United Nations".

Who is Lamamra?

Lamamra was born in the state of Bejaia in 1952, graduated from the Higher School of Administration, and previously worked as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as as the United Nations envoy to Liberia between 2003 and 2007.

In the diplomatic field, he served as Algeria’s ambassador to the United Nations between 1993 and 1996, and was involved in many mediations to resolve a number of conflicts on the African continent, until he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on September 11, 2013.

Lamamra previously held the position of Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry, and at the level of international organizations, he worked as the "Governor of the Council" of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In 2008, he was elected Chairman of the Commission of the African Peace and Security Council.

The French magazine "Jeune Afrique" described him as a "multi-competence diplomat" who has knowledge of many files, including the issues of mercenaries and armaments, United Nations reform, nuclear weapons, good governance, and the issue of Western Sahara.

Immediately after his appointment,Lamamra assured, on July 14, 2021, that the resumption of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front "deserves more attention from the international community."

In his speech before the mid-term ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, Lamamra called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to expedite the appointment of his personal envoy and launch a credible political process between the two parties to the conflict, with the aim of reaching a just and lasting political solution that guarantees "the right of self-determination for the people of the Sahrawi Arab Republic." Founding member of the African Union.

Lamamra assured that Algeria will continue to promote the values ​​of pluralism in all its efforts aimed at advancing political and peaceful solutions to the crises in its neighborhood and beyond, as well as in its various initiatives aimed at stimulating regional and continental economic integration.

Stuck Files

Some reports said that Lamamra’s appointment is a “rehabilitation” of a diplomatic personality known as “balanced and pragmatic.” One of the most complex files awaiting the “diplomatic magician,” as some like to call it in Algeria, is the situation in Mali, which has vast borders in southern Algeria.

The crisis in the eastern neighbor, Libya, was and still is one of the most pressing regional security issues.

The President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, landed at Houari Boumediene Airport, on July 13, 2021, where he was received by Saleh Koujil, Speaker of the National Assembly, and Ramtane Lamamra, who recently took over the affairs of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Algiers, the latter found Ramtane Lamamra waiting for him, and the relations between them seemed excellent, which they established when Bazoum himself was Minister of Foreign Affairs, a rapprochement that will facilitate cooperation and negotiations between the two countries.

The Algerian diplomat Lamamra is among the most prominent diplomats in the United Nations and the African Union, especially as he specializes in the field of international mediation to resolve disputes.

In 2003, Lamamra was assigned the position of United Nations envoy to Liberia until 2007, between the government and the “Liberians United Movement for Reconciliation and Democracy.” Lamamra’s mediation ended with the conflicting parties agreeing to stop the civil war and lay down their arms.

In 2008, he was appointed Commissioner of the African Peace and Security Council, and was re-elected at the head of the Council until 2010.

In September 2017, the United Nations appointed Algerian diplomat Lamamra to the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on International Mediation, which includes 18 international personalities.

In July 2018, Lamamra joined the board of directors of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO.

In the first quarter of 2018, Lamamra was assigned an African mediation mission in the political crisis in Madagascar, a mission that ended with the government and opposition agreement to set November 7 of the same year as the date for the presidential elections.

In September 2018, African Union President Moussa Faki assigned him the task of the Union's envoy to the presidential elections in Madagascar, and Lamamra's mission was set to assess the situation in Madagascar and support the process of preparing for the presidential elections.

Lamamra's last African position was his appointment by the African Union at the beginning of 2021 as "high representative of the Union for Silencing the Guns."