Denver – Algerian officials have continued to use Morocco as a scapegoat to avoid national issues as the country’s situation deteriorates.
Army Chief of Staff General Said Chengriha, who has acted as an unofficial envoy for President Tebboune, gave a speech Tuesday reiterating the Algerian government’s claims of a Moroccan plot to destabilize Algeria.
Chengriha alleged Morocco had “gone too far, in conspiracies and subversive propaganda campaigns aimed at reducing Algeria’s role in the region, exhausting its capacities, hampering its development process, and attempting to undermine the unity of its people, by sowing discord and division within it.”
Chengriha, like other Algerian officials, provided no evidence in support of his claims against Morocco. However, it appears fewer Algerians are buying into the long-held concept of Morocco as a foreign “specter” enemy that poses any threat to Algerian aspirations.
Months after the Hirak protests ended, Algerians are still wary of the propaganda the establishment has espoused, particularly regarding the causes of the country’s worsening economic and political crises.
While the regime continues to point fingers at Morocco, accusing it of colluding with Algerian anti-establishment movements to destabilize Algeria, many in the country are calling out the widespread corruption running within the Algerian political establishment.
In terms of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, Algeria has reported a vaccination rate of less than 10% of its total population. Citizens continue to struggle as the country’s medical system remains overwhelmed, with reports that many COVID-19 patients are dying due to a lack of adequate health resources.
Important resources such as food, school supplies, and oil are also running scarce across the country, as the value of the Algerian Dinar has undergone a steady decline over the past four years.
While the Algerian establishment continues to present Morocco as an existential threat for Algeria, officials controlling the country’s politics continue to profit as everyday Algerians are forced to pay the price of decades of failed and inefficient policies.
