Rabat – In addition to Algeria’s Army Chief Said Chengriha, a group of Algerian associations claimed that Morocco has a connection with the Autonomy Movement of Kabylia (MAK) and the anti-government Islamist Movement Rachad.
Algeria designates both movements as terrorist groups.
“We are part of the associative fabric of the country, very angry against the practices of the MAK and Rachad movements, classified as terrorist organizations by the State. We condemn the subordination of these two entities to the Moroccan makhzen and to special services of the Zionist entity,” the associations claimed.
According to the regime-affiliated media outlet Echourouk, the associations accused Morocco and Israel of collusion with the two Algerian movements to undermine Algeria’s stability and “bring it to its knees.”
“These two movements receive significant funds from Moroccan and Zionist intelligence services to spread hatred between Algerians and push them to fight each other on social networks,” the associations claimed on Monday.
The remarks come to echo similar claims by Algeria’s chief of army Said Chengriha last week on Saturday.
Chengriha claimed that “subversive organizations” are taking advantage of “the technological means developed for the purposes of espionage and subversion and attempt to create situations of crisis and chaos.”
This is not the first time for Algeria’s regime to resort to such Morocco-bashing claims and anti-Moroccan rhetoric.
In 2021, Algeria’s regime accused Morocco of causing the wildfires in the Kabylie region to undermine its security.
Algiers made the claims despite Morocco’s repeated offers, a few days earlier, to send firefighting jets to help Algeria put out the wildfire.
A few weeks after falsely accusing Morocco of being behind the wildfires, the Algerian regime decided to cut diplomatic ties with Rabat.
In response to this decision to sever relations, Morocco rejected what it described as the fallacies and unfounded allegations of the Algerian regime, stressing the North African kingdom’s readiness to remain a credible partner and friend to the Algerian people despite political divergences with the Algerian government.
Reports disputing Algeria’s ‘terrorist’ designations
Algeria’s regime claims against Kabyle separatist group and the anti-establishment Rachad movement also come amid reports disputing the Algerian government’s designation of the dissident groups as terrorist organizations.
In February, the US State Department disputed Algeria’s “terrorist designation of the MAK and Rachad movements, stressing that the designations are “political [rather] than security-focused.”
“In 2021 Algerian authorities targeted more frequently the Berber separatist Movement of the Self-Determination of Kabylie and the Islamist movement Rachad, which the government designated as terrorist organizations in May,” the state department said in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2021.
The report also raised concerns about Algeria’s regime involvement in charging individuals with terrorism-related crimes for activities that appeared to constitute expression and peaceful activism.
Similar concerns were echoed by activists and experts, including UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor in February.
“Acts of limited meditation and repression against the human rights movement must end,” she said, adding that the Algerian government’s decision to dissolve the human rights associations active in the country amounted to “an alarming crackdown on civil society organizations.”
