Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has once again exposed Algeria’s destabilizing involvement in the internal affairs of its neighboring countries.
Speaking to Al-Khalij TV on January 29, Marzouki claimed that the Algerian government has attempted to undermine the 2010-2011 Tunisian revolution, out of fear that the popular protests would spread to Algeria.
“When the revolution began in Tunisia, our brothers in Algeria have followed it with great interest,” Marzouki said.
“As a state president, I was worried that the Algerian government would get afraid from ‘contagion’ and turn hostile,” he added. “This was exactly what happened.”
Marzouki, who considers the Tunisian revolution as a necessary step to get rid of “internal colonialism” and achieve democracy, did not appreciate the Algerian government’s involvement in the internal affairs of Tunisia.
“I was very afraid that the Algerian government would fight the Tunisian revolution,” the former president reiterated.
He emphasized that “it is no secret today that we have suffered from the Algerian government at that time.”
As the first post-revolution Tunisian president, between 2011 and 2014, Marzouki said he struggled to build friendly relations between Tunisia and its western neighbor because of the Algerian government’s hostility.
Marzouki recalled that he had made significant efforts to get on the good side of the Algerian government. He held several meetings with Algiers’ envoy to Tunis. He also paid an official visit to Algeria and met with former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
“I did my best to assure the Algerian government that our revolution was an internal ‘Tunisian-Tunisian’ affair,” Marzouki concluded, explaining his unfruitful attempts to appease Algerian concerns and lessen the hostility of Bouteflika’s regime.
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This is not the first time the former Tunisian president has exposed the destabilizing impact of the Algerian governmental action.
In November 2020, Marzouki accused Algeria of being the main obstructor to the project of a united Maghreb through its support for the separatist Polisario Front.
“You know to what extent I am a Maghrebian and I seek to advance this project. But it is clear that there are forces determined to abort it,” Marzouki told Arabic-speaking newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, before explicitly stating that these “forces” refer to Algeria and the Polisario Front.
