After the forest fires that devastated northern Algeria and left nearly 90 dead, the government found its responsible. “The incessant hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco against Algeria have necessitated the revision of relations between the two countries and the intensification of security controls at the western borders,” the Algerian presidency said on Wednesday in a statement, without further clarification. Rabat had not reacted at the end of the evening.
The decision was taken during an extraordinary meeting of the Algerian High Security Council, chaired by the Head of State Abdelmadjid Tebboune and devoted to the assessment of the situation. According to President Tebboune, most of these fires were of “criminal” origin, without any evidence being presented so far. The investigation made it possible to “discover that a criminal network, classified as a terrorist organization”, is behind the fires, “according to the admission of its arrested members”, according to the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN).
The movement for the self-determination of Kabylia targeted
Beyond the human and material losses, and the shortcomings of the public authorities highlighted during these fires, Algerians were deeply shocked by the lynching and immolation of a man wrongly accused of pyromania in Kabylia, a Berber-speaking region. in the northeast of the country ravaged by fires. Sixty-one suspects have been arrested since the murder of Djamel Ben Ismail on August 11.
Algerian leaders accused the MAK (Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia), an independentist organization, of being responsible for the fires and the ignominious death of the young man. Some of the suspects arrested confessed to belonging to the MAK, according to confessions filmed and broadcast by Algerian television.
Rachad movement also accused
“The High Security Council has decided (…) to intensify the efforts of the security services for the arrest of the rest of the individuals implicated in the two crimes, as well as all the members of the two terrorist movements which threaten public security and the ‘national unity, until their total eradication, in particular the “MAK” which receives the support and the help of foreign parties, at the head of which Morocco and the Zionist entity (editor’s note: Israel) “, according to the Algerian presidency. The Paris-based MAK has dismissed the allegations.
Algiers also questioned the Islamo-conservative Rachad movement established in London. These two movements, bête noire of Algerian power, are illegal in Algeria where they were classified as “terrorist organizations” on May 18th. “Will we see a manhunt?” The Algerian Human Rights Line (LADDH) calls for restraint, foresight and wisdom, ”LADDH vice-president Saïd Salhi worried in a statement.
Relationships already deteriorated
This episode consecrates a further deterioration of the conflictual relations between Algiers and Rabat. The border between Algeria and Morocco has been officially closed since August 16, 1994. A month ago, to the day, Algiers recalled its ambassador to Rabat for “consultations with immediate effect” following diplomatic tensions between the two. Maghreb countries caused by the dispute over Western Sahara. This reminder followed “the drift of the Moroccan diplomatic representation in New York which distributed an official note to the member countries of the non-aligned movement in which Morocco” publicly and explicitly supports an alleged right to self-determination of the people Kabyle “”, explained the Algerian Foreign Ministry.
During a meeting of the non-aligned movement on July 13 and 14 in New York, Morocco’s ambassador to the UN, Omar Hilale, passed a note in which he considered that “the valiant Kabyle people deserve, more than everyone else, to fully enjoy their right to self-determination ”. A red line for Algiers which opposes any desire for independence in Kabylia, a Berber-speaking region in northeastern Algeria. The Moroccan diplomat then expressed his support for Kabyle separatism in reaction to the support given by Algiers to the Saharawi separatists of the Polisario Front who are fighting against Morocco.
Traditionally difficult, relations between Algeria and its Moroccan neighbor have suffered a recent deterioration due to the thorny issue of Western Sahara. The normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel – in return for an American recognition of Moroccan “sovereignty” over this territory – has further heightened tensions with Algeria, which has denounced “foreign maneuvers” aimed at destabilizing it. For its part, Morocco considers Algeria as “a real stakeholder in the conflict” in Western Sahara.