People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, Statement by His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Attaf during the General Debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 28 September 2026) In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful Mr. President, 1- At the outset, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the President of the Republic of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Khalilur Rahman, on the occasion of his assumption of the presidency of our General Assembly at this session, and to convey to him our full gratitude for joining us in this contribution to our general debate. We renew to him our appreciation for his steadfast defence of our Organization whenever some parties sought to undermine it.
2- I would also like to express my profound thanks and immense gratitude to His Excellency the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres, for all that he has demonstrated, throughout the past year, in the performance of his duties within this Assembly of ours: sincere commitment, tireless effort, and determination in the face of attempts to diminish the role of our Organization, undermine its pillars, and keep the voice of multilateral action from being silenced.
3- We meet today while the world, across many parts of the globe, stands at a crossroads. In many directions, tensions are escalating, trust among States is receding, the scope of crises and conflicts is expanding, polarization is intensifying, exclusionary unilateralism and withdrawal into self are returning at the expense of cooperation, coercive measures are increasingly being imposed, the advantages of dialogue and consensus are being nullified, and the tendency to impose force is making the outbreak of wars the rule rather than the exception. At times, the principles of international law are suspended, and at other times they are applied selectively, subject only to balances of power and calculations of identity. In such a dangerous international context, it can by no means be acceptable or normal for war to become a legitimate option in itself, nor for the rules of international law to remain merely a sheet of paper that can be invoked against some but not others. How can confidence in international law remain when the right of self-defence is granted to some and denied to others, even in the right to survival? How can confidence in humanity remain if the same reality is used to justify what is imposed on one side while the other is asked to remain silent about it? If the logic of managing conflicts reverts to what it once was, then what future awaits our collective capacity to preserve peace?
4- The issue, for generations to come, is not only a passing crisis in the international order, but a profound review of the system that emerged after two world wars and of its development. It is not far-fetched to say that what we are witnessing today compels us to ask whether we have failed to learn the lessons of history, or whether we have never finally grasped those lessons, nor truly overcome the disasters, wars, and calamities that lay at the very core of the purposes for which our international system was established, and the conditions required to enable it to prevent wars and fortify peace on this scale.
The theme chosen by the President of our General Assembly for this session, “Restoring trust and solidarity: improving global governance for present and future generations”, reflects not only the challenges of the current stage, but also places before us a fundamental question: how do we restore trust in an international system whose rules and institutions have been shaken? And from this hall itself should begin the embodiment of the political will that ought to arise from the very place meant to be its truest expression.
5- Algeria considers that the transformation of the international system is not an institutional luxury, nor a matter that can be deferred; rather, it has become a necessity imposed by the profound changes the world has witnessed, changes that require a more representative, more just, and more equitable international order.
6- The United Nations can no longer continue with the same historical imbalances if we want peoples to trust in multilateral action. We cannot speak of justice while international decision-making remains hostage to power balances; nor can we ask peoples to place their trust in an international system for the resolution of conflicts while that system remains incapable of ending wars or of safeguarding peace.
7- Reform of the international system has become an urgent necessity. That need also applies to the Security Council and to its reform, so as to make it more representative, more just, and more effective. Algeria reaffirms its steadfast support for the Common African Position, and stresses that rectifying the historical injustice done to Africa requires permanent and fair African representation on the Security Council, with full powers.
8- Accordingly, Algeria calls for strengthening the role of the General Assembly through deep reform that makes it more representative and enables it to play a fuller role in confronting selectivity and double standards in the application of international law. In this context, it is no longer possible to complete the reform of institutions without doing justice to peoples aspiring to determine their own destiny and realize their national projects.
9- If restoring trust begins with reforming institutions, then it certainly cannot be achieved without redressing the grievances of peoples who continue to suffer the gravest forms of denial, exclusion, and marginalization.
the subsequent stages remain more rejected, not only because of the scale of the destruction left by the wars that the two regions of the Middle East and the Gulf have experienced throughout their history, but also because of the erosion of the clear boundaries between what is acceptable and what ought not to be acceptable in international relations.
10- In this context, my country is following with deep concern the continuation of escalation in the Gulf region, where a conflict is revolving on the backs of the states and peoples of the region, which have found themselves hostage to calculations that are not theirs, and their stability, development and welfare are hostage to interests that are not theirs. Algeria condemns the violation of the sovereignty of the states of the region and stresses the imperative of respecting their sovereignty and sanctity, reducing escalation, and adhering to international law in dealing with the tensions, differences and conflicts that the region is witnessing. Algeria also condemns the continuation of Israeli aggressions against the states of the region, particularly Syria and Lebanon, and its efforts to partition brotherly Somalia.
11- It should not remain permissible to extinguish hope for security, peace and tranquillity through the taking of the lives of children and women. In Gaza, after eleven months of a major humanitarian tragedy that has shocked the world, we welcomed the ceasefire, hoping that this would be the beginning of a political solution that would stop the fire, protect civilians and open the way towards a permanent solution. But what had been hoped for quickly vanished and the usual scene of concluded agreements and contractual undertakings once again evaporated in the ظل continuation of the occupation’s settlement policies.
12- In Palestine, the humanitarian tragedy continues, and the Israeli occupation continues to claim the lives of Palestinian civilians, among them the innocent. The scene has become part of the familiar, accepted scene. Algeria renews its full, unconditional support for the legitimate rights, natural rights and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them its right to establish its independent State with full sovereignty, with القدس الشريف as its capital. If the question of Palestine places before us a daily test of the credibility of international law, then Africa places before us another test: building partnerships based on solidarity, addressing the residues of crises and their root causes, and giving sufficient attention not to merely managing them, but to peace and development. Algeria, attached to its African belonging, will continue to support the just causes of the peoples of the continent and to contribute to the path of stability, development and integration, and, at the forefront, support for the Palestinian people, armed with the culture of peace and dialogue in all this, and attached to principled positions.
13- From this standpoint, Algeria’s steadfast principled position supporting the right of the people of Western Sahara to decolonization and to the full exercise of their uncurtailed rights opens onto enabling peoples to exercise those rights in full, rather than perpetuating a distorted practice that entrenches a fait accompli.
14- In this framework, Algeria reaffirms, on the basis of its conviction in the right to self-determination, that the question of Western Sahara can only be resolved through the exercise of that right as enshrined by international legitimacy. Algeria welcomes the organization, at the beginning of this year, of direct negotiations between the two parties to the conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, under the auspices of the United Nations and with the assistance of the United States of America, which we see as a necessary, sincere and serious path towards a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the question of Western Sahara. Algeria also stresses that this path can only proceed within the framework of the relevant United Nations reference parameters firmly established in decolonization. Any attempt to circumvent this reference framework and to marginalize the representative of the people concerned, namely the Polisario Front, their sole legitimate representative, will only further complicate and aggravate tensions in the region and undermine stability, cooperation and development.
From this perspective, allow me to present to you what we consider essential: First: Algeria affirms that the success of the negotiating track requires the engagement of the parties to the conflict in good faith, with sincere will to reach a just solution, away from the logic of dictates and bargaining. Respect for the negotiating process cannot be achieved except through seriousness and sincerity.
Second: Algeria warns against depriving the people of Western Sahara, through their genuine and sole representative, the Polisario Front, of their authentic right, for there can be no contribution to a solution without the people concerned being at the heart of it.
Third: In this context, Algeria affirms that, as a result of more than half a century of occupation of their land, the Sahrawis are today torn between voluntary return, local integration, resettlement and exile. Yet this cannot be reduced to a humanitarian issue; rather, it requires a comprehensive political process in Western Sahara on its land, beginning and ending with the completion of the decolonization process. This occupation, which is another colonial situation on the continent, cannot in any way diminish the right of the people of Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-determination through a genuine process.
15- The right of peoples to self-determination remains a constant principle in international law, and the passage of half a century cannot transform it from a legal truth into an imposed fait accompli, nor can it deprive its أصحاب of it. The historical and collective memory of peoples, as well as the African experience, confirm that true peace is not built on the transgression of rights, but rather that the sound and proper treatment of such situations is what responds to and respects the aspirations of their أصحاب. The United Nations does not need anyone to explain to it the historical facts.
Algeria looks to the Sahel region as one single space in which the challenges of poverty, marginalization and organized crime intersect with the expansion of terrorist networks and groups. These are challenges that cannot be addressed in isolation from one another, just as they cannot be fragmented. President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
They are not two parallel tracks; rather, they are two facets of an approach founded on supporting States, addressing the root causes, through dialogue and with respect for the choices of their peoples, their territorial integrity, the reconciliation of the region and the accompaniment of States, nourishing security conditions that make development possible. Security and development are not two separate paths.
As is the case in the Sahel region, terrorism finds in a fragile environment fertile ground for entrenchment and expansion. Therefore, Algeria proposes an approach that combines security and development efforts, while respecting the sovereignty of States and encouraging their development, and, faithful to its historic solidarity endeavours and by virtue of its position as a neighbouring sister State, it will continue to extend a helping hand and support political solutions that preserve the stability of the region and open broader horizons for development and progress for the peoples of the Sahel States.
Libya, which has entered its sixteenth year of crisis, remains an example of the conditions that foreign interventions, in their various forms, can create, while at the same time the broad national consensus among Libyans remains an essential element in creating the conditions for a stable and united settlement. Protracted crises do not find their way to resolution through deepening divisions, but rather through dialogue, reconciliation and the unification of institutions.
Algeria fully supports the sisterly State of Libya in finding a peaceful political solution led and owned by the Libyans, and renews its support for the efforts of the United Nations, trusting in its ability to accompany this process. For the Libyans alone are capable of rebuilding their State and institutions, preserving its unity, safeguarding their country and guaranteeing their future, whenever they are the sole decision-makers with regard to their country.
With the same convictions, and in response to the same imperatives, Algeria expresses its steadfast support for the legitimate authorities in Yemen and the Sudan, the two brotherly countries, in response to the right of their two peoples to security and stability. From here we reach a truth: development cannot be revived without security, and stability cannot be built without ending divisions and building the State.
Under the leadership of Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President of the Republic, Algeria has chosen to be an active participant in the transformations the world is witnessing, turning challenges into bridges towards progress, and making science, knowledge and its resources a driver of its renaissance, for building a productive and diversified economy. There can be no development without security and stability, unity and cohesion, and this is what forms one of the pillars of peace.
Algeria believes, with complete conviction, that the political, military and social options it has enshrined in its national approach and its Constitution since 2020 proceed from a clear vision and a firm and constant principle: that no one must be left behind in the development process. This is the true meaning of sustainable development: for ordinary people.
In its voluntary national review presented in July 2026, Algeria showcased what it has achieved over seven years of sustained efforts and what its policies have translated into in figures, as well as the tangible progress made towards embodying the goals of sustainable economic and environmental development. In doing so, it demonstrated that the essence of development lies in improving people’s dignity in all aspects of public life.
From this understanding of sustainable development, Algeria proceeds from the view that development cannot be complete unless it includes its regional environment and contributes to building a more integrated and capable African space for addressing the challenges of the present and the future. For the destiny of African peoples is shared, and the continent’s interdependence and the challenge of achieving sustainable development make solidarity and African integration indispensable pillars.
As we discern the features of the accelerating technological revolution, we cannot accept that Africa remain on its margins or be transformed into merely a consumer of its outputs. Hence the imperative of investing in the African human being and building scientific and digital capacities, so that artificial intelligence may become a lever for development and not a new title for the development gap between North and South.
Therefore, we call for balanced and responsible international regulation of artificial intelligence that ensures justice in access to it, preserves the sovereignty of States, and makes this revolution a shared opportunity for all, not a privilege monopolized by a few.
As for the United Nations, we believe that trust is restored when words match deeds, when the law is one and effective for all, when peoples are able to recover from the tyranny of power politics, and when institutions once again become a common home, not an arena for selectivity.
At the end of the day, we have returned to the question that seemed to begin from it: how do we restore trust? We restore trust through genuinely multilateral action, not as a slogan but as a course of action; through cooperation, not isolation; through a space in which respect for law is a right, not a privilege; in which development is not the preserve of a few; in which institutions regain the confidence of peoples; and in which the United Nations, at this defining moment, becomes equal to the hopes placed in it before our children and future generations.
That is the alternative, for there is inaction that leaves us all alone, without recourse or means, facing crises we did not choose, and leaving our children to confront what we have failed to resolve.
That, for us, is trust.
23. Our responsibility today is not merely to describe the world as it is, but together to shape a better world than the one revolving in the storms of this age. Let us not walk the path alone, but together among the peoples of the world. Let us make the restoration of diplomacy to its rightful place a principle, and let us make respect for international law a shared commitment, not an option. Let us make peace not an absence but a common responsibility for all. Thank you.