Fez – Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune has once again accused Morocco of destabilizing his country, this time suggesting that Rabat is conspiring to create issues for the Algerian football team ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations and the final qualifying rounds for the 2022 World Cup.
Talking to news outlet Echorouk, Tebboune claimed that some people backed by Morocco are working inside Algeria to put pressure on and distract Djamel Belmadi, the coach of the Algerian national football team.
According to the Algerian president, some “foreign parties from that direction [Morocco] are working to undermine the morale of Djamel Belmadi.”
He went on to claim that “[Morocco] has mobilized their electronic sites” with the main goal of creating, “by all means, problems for Algeria.”
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For a beleaguered political regime faced with a cycle of profound social, political, and economic challenges, picking on Morocco has long been the most expedient way of explaining away its failure to deliver to distressed and increasingly dissatisfied citizens.
In September, the Algerian press attempted to drag football into the political rift with Morocco as the Algerian team prepared for a World Cup qualifier game in Marrakech. But Belmadi brushed aside the political hostility between Rabat and Algiers, saying that the crisis is not supposed to be given the social and cultural ties between the two countries.
In recent weeks, however, the Algerian regime has continued to point fingers at Morocco in bellicose statements that suggest a determination to escalate tensions and deflect public scrutiny of Algeria’s deepening crises.
