Washington – Following months of intensifying Algerian attacks on Morocco, General Saïd Chengriha, Algeria’s de facto ruler, seems ready to push North Africa and the Sahel region to a gratuitous war. The UN Security Council (UNSC) should meet to discuss Algeria’s role in the wake of the latest staged “terrorist” attack in Western Sahara.
Chengriha has nearly declared war on Morocco, while the UN remains silent and indifferent to Algeria’s continued threats to the security of neighboring countries and the region.
An unhinged Chengriha is a present and real danger to international peace and world economic stability. Paris and Moscow, the two capitals that control the faltering Algerian military institution, must stop him before he does any real damage.
The General’s impulsiveness is dangerous and lethal. The seventy-six-year-old relic of Algeria’s dirty war of the 1990s is known for his bloodthirst, according to former Algerian intelligence officers who served with him. There is a story that he shot and killed at the point-blank range a militant during the civil war.
It is time that the French and Russian intelligence services (DGSE and FSB) replace their “local assets” in Algiers. The Chengriha regime would not last a week without the cover of the two agencies, which are well anchored in the Algerian military services.
If the UNSC does not take issue with Algeria’s provocations and misinformation, Europe and the US will face a new crisis with destructive consequences on the peace in Africa and on the health of the European economy. In the latest in a series of reckless provocations against Morocco, the Algerian Army staged a deadly attack on a “civilian convoy” in the no man’s land in Western Sahara and blamed it on Morocco, hoping to spark a regional armed conflict.
The alleged attack near Mauritania’s borders is just one of many unsubstantiated allegations that the Chengriha regime has made against Morocco. In the past, and without a shred of evidence, Algeria has accused Morocco of starting fires in the Kabyle region, killing an Algerian civic activist, destroying soccer campuses, and the shortage of food and water.
Such fanciful accusations made Algeria a joke in the global press and decimated its reputation and position among nations. Within international and regional organizations, Algeria feels alone and abandoned by its historical allies, the Russians and the Chinese, and supported by pariah states like Iran and Venezuela.
Algeria, the world leader in state-sponsored fake news and misinformation, threatens international peace and security every time it fabricates statements about phony attacks or makes false accusations against neighboring nations. While Chengriha and his agents intensify their charges, Morocco has made clear that it will not respond to these “childish” provocations and would pursue its policy of restraint while keeping the right to exercise self-defense.
A desperate Chengriha went as far as inviting Wagner’s Russian mercenaries to Mali hoping to please his masters in Moscow. Ironically, Moscow and Bamako rejected the idea, but not before Washington condemned this atrocious idea and warned against sending foreign troops to the Sahel. The Algerians looked insensitive to the plights of the Libyans who suffered at the hands of Wagner and to the Malians who are paying a big price for trusting an Algerian army willing to sell its national security and kiss up to the Russians to become a “regional “power”.
Russia, Algeria’s closest ally, declared Chengriha unstable and untrustworthy when it abstained during the UNSC vote on a pro-Morocco report on Western Sahara last month. Moscow has changed, as Algeria is stuck in the “Sixties Revolutions”.
Putin is no fool and knows through his intelligence services that the current ruling military junta is fragile and could collapse at any time. Although Moscow is not abandoning the billion-dollar Algerian weapons market, it is not prepared to support the current erratic regime. In addition, Putin’s rejection of Chengriha’s offer to build a Russian port on the Mediterranean is a further signal that the Algerian government is unreliable and unstable.
Algeria’s campaigns of falsehoods and misrepresentations are gross violations of international law. Algiers, the factory of fake news, has deliberately and repeatedly misled the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and several European countries when it comes to international security. It is time that The UN Security Council held a meeting to discuss Algeria’s deadly antics.
Despite Algeria’s malicious and relentless attacks, Moroccans view the Algerian government with pity rather than contempt. However, an uncontrolled General Chengriha is very likely to seriously undermine the national security of the U.S., Europe, and Russia. Chengriha’s s amateurism was most obvious in Libya.
Algeria’s numerous attempts to mediate not only failed, but angered all parties of the conflict, including the Russians, Egyptians, and Emiratis. The inept Algerian diplomats seem ignorant of the basic proponents of the Libyan dossier.
And it’s not just on the international scene where Chengriha is doing damage. He is also responsible for the massive deterioration of the oil and gas-rich Algerian economy, to the point where the citizens cannot afford basic foods like potatoes and lentils.
The Army installed President Tebboune, regraded by most Algerians as a puppet of Chengriha, as a terrible leader who is failing his role at every level. Driven only by hatred toward Morocco and the advancement of Chengriha’s agenda in Western Sahara, he pursues reckless policies that impoverish his people, endangers their security and well-being.
