During his talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, lhe Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune painted a gloomy picture of the situation in North Africa and its neighboring countries. His “problem” with Morocco took up most of his fake news monologue. Deciphering Tebboune’s lies.
As was the case with former Algerian President Bouteflika and his predecessors, the obsession with Morocco among Algerian leaders is inherited and does not change.
While the head of American diplomacy, Antony Bliken went for a short visit to Algeria (his first as minister, and the second since 2016) after a stopover in Morocco and Israel, President Tebboune did not not miss the opportunity to give him an Algerian-style presentation of the situation in the region.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune delivered a long monologue infested with a distorted historical reading, which the Algerian regime has held since its independence. In the story told by the Algerian president, Morocco would be the bad guy and poor Algeria would not understand why.
“We may be dreamers, but we dream of a more balanced world, a world where freedoms are better defended. We do our best with our means and in our environment – sometimes we are understood, sometimes we are not”, he started by saying, wanting to present Algeria as the country of freedoms, of freedom. democracy and justice – while the country, since the authoritarian turn at the helm of A. Tebboune, has regularly been the subject of very critical international warnings and reports.
“We are surrounded by countries that don’t look much like us with the exception of Tunisia. (…) Otherwise, all our borders are in flames”, he added, speaking of the environment by which Algeria is surrounded. This is also when his long tirade on Morocco and the Sahara conflict began.
According to the president, relations with Morocco “have always experienced ups and downs” since Algerian independence. And on this point, all observers agree to say the same thing. Tebboune added that this would not be due to the Sahara issue.
The Algerian Head of State explained that the War of the Sands in 1963 would be a memory “that no Algerian will forget” – while the population of age to have known this war represents less than 12% of the total Algerian population whose vast majority are under the age of 40.
In a clear intention of victimization, the president added that at the time Algeria did not have a regular army and that it had been attacked by planes and helicopters. What he refrained from mentioning, however, was that Egypt and Cuba fought alongside Algeria against Morocco alone.
Another historical reality that the president refrained from saying was the context of this war, which took place after the Algerian leader at the time refused to return the Moroccan territories occupied and inherited from the time of French Algeria. , and to respect the commitments of the 1961 agreement.
“They were aiming to take part of our territory,” he told Blinken. In reality, the regions of Tindouf and Colomb Béchar were Moroccan until the French administration decided to give them to its colony in Algeria when it was only a protectorate in Morocco.
Ahmed Benbella is the one who did not respect the agreement with the Algerian government of Ferhat Abbas who had promised to return the Moroccan territories once the independence of Algeria was acquired. He overthrew the government of Ferhat Abbas simply to never return Morocco’s territories.
However, at the time, the inhabitants of Tindouf – today a territory that the Algerian regime has granted to the separatists of the Polisario – had voted for the independence of Algeria but had noted on their ballot paper “yes to the independence but we are Moroccans”.
Another element that President Tebboune did not mention and which contrasts with the facts and what historians claim is that it was Algeria that initiated the 1963 war – by sending troops to Moroccan territory. , especially in Tarfaya.
And to continue in the order of lies by indicating that Algeria has “definitely no intention in the Sahara” because “it is their problem”. In fact, Algeria is the second main party to the conflict and the War of the Sands, and Amgala 1 and 2, attest to this. It has always been Algeria against Morocco to take its Sahara from it, via a militia, the Polisario, which it lodges, arms, finances and which it makes its main diplomatic concern.
“They have always wanted to destabilize Algeria”, the Algerian president again scolded with reference to Morocco, and saying that he did not know the reason, while the history books can testify to all that Morocco has done to to help the independence of Algeria.
And in a new lie, Abdelmadjid Tebboune claimed that Algeria would “always” have protected Morocco. While in truth, it is quite the opposite since Algeria is a young country facing the kingdom and since the independence of Algeria, this country (under Ahmed Benbella), has gone back on its commitments to return the territories Moroccans, launched the 1963 war, created the polisario against the territorial integrity of Morocco by bribing a separatist militia in 1976 and continues this propaganda until today 46 years later, closed its borders with Morocco in 1994 and refuses to reopen them despite the calls of King Mohammed VI, chased Moroccans and dispossessed them in broad daylight of Aid…
Faced with this long tirade from the Algerian president, the head of American diplomacy, who came to discuss other subjects, contented himself with offering him polite words and reminding him that his mission was to strengthen economic ties. and security between the two countries.
“Thank you for this detailed and interesting conversation,” he replied without further details, and without returning to any of the subjects mentioned by the Algerian president. “I had the chance to meet my friend the Minister, and I am happy to be back in Algeria to strengthen the ties between our countries by working on security and common economic opportunities such as investments and exchanges between the countries. I believe that it will progress in investment thanks to the young entrepreneurs who need to be trained,” he added.
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