The information, if there is any, is in all Algerian newspapers and news sites. Slideshows to support it, it is even on the front page of the neighbor's biggest headlines. And the “event” is described as international. A change of regime in Algeria to pass the baton to a new generation of Algerians capable of even understanding the world in which they live? A self-criticism capable of reconciling a country angry with the whole world and totally isolated on the regional and, for that matter, international scene? The announcement of a real industrial strategy to get the country out of its dependence on hydrocarbons and change a little from the antics of a president, Abdemadjid Tebboune, now in the closet thanks to an army chief, Saïd Chengriha, who arrogates all the powers to himself? If you think you're hallucinating, you're right. This is not and will not be the case.
Among the strike force, we are not offended by such futile jobs. The third economic power in the world – words of the Head of State – has better things to do: liberate the people of the entire earth and even beyond. Ok so, Palestinians? But no, it's too little. The Uyghurs? Don't know! But then who, what? Extraterrestrials, that the big bad Elon Musk is preparing to conquer? You are not far.
In “the other world”, a punchline that we owe to King Mohammed VI himself, we have just discovered a new reserve, not of oil or gas, nor even of phosphates, but of words, slogans and narratives for a “cause » still in packaging. The Rif. For ordinary people, it is a proud mountainous region of northern Morocco today in full transformation. For the Algerian regime, the new trade mark of an equally new struggle for independence. The concept of a war for access to the Atlantic, through endless and budget-consuming sponsorship of a militia as gentrified as it is resolutely soft, is exhausted. We had to dare find another source of trouble for our imperialist, Zionist, colonialist, and therefore Moroccan, neighbor. It stinks of improvisation, it's pitifully amateurish and it's ultimately pathetic, but it is.
The Rif, the start-up parasitizing the Algerian regime
But what is the new Algerian hype? It's simple but you had to think about it. Bring around ten people, preferably complete strangers: a few parliamentarians, with one or two foreign nationals. Pack them into a conference room, turn the air conditioning on full blast (essential!). Set up a desk for idiots who are barely good at declaiming three or four sentences, no more. Make them stars. Surprise guaranteed. Repeat the same sentences over and over again so that it prints well. Under a not-so-gentle fire from entry-level cameras, cameras and smartphones. Spread it long, wide and especially crosswise and you have an event of international scope, which augurs a new revolution which will change the face of the Earth: Rif Day, organized on Saturday November 23 in Algiers – the Mecca of revolutionaries, you know! We won't tell you what, but it was a party.
Read also: Hassan Abdelkhalek: “The Polisario card being burned, the Algerian military regime is playing that of separatism in the Rif”
As there had to be a little hint of seriousness behind this charade, we learned that this was the first media outing of the Rif National Party (PNR). Yes, yes, and by all saints, it exists! It was even Algeria that created it. Remember. It was last Saturday March 2 in the heart of the capital Algiers.
Certainly, the casting is lousy: a real gang of 7ess composed of five representatives apparently originating from the Moroccan Rif and residing abroad, who were granted asylum and headquarters in a villa inherited from France on the heights of the capital. But, for the moment, we make do with what we can and at a lower cost. The budget is obviously tight and we are not going to repeat the mistakes made with the Polisario which, even now, is horribly expensive. But the idea is there and while all the countries on the planet are trying to become start-up nations, Algeria is struggling to become a start-up nation. Too strong.
Scoop: the Sahara is not the last colony in Africa
Let's get back to our black sheep: the newly created PNR was therefore entitled to a conference room and all the microphones. To say that its objective is to restore the Republic of the Rif, “the first experienced by the African continent“. With five members, anything is possible and if history is to be lied to, we have to go all out. What else? That the claim is “legitimate“. It is true that the sponsor knows a lot about “legitimacy”. Hey, there’s something nice: “The Rif has never been part of this organic entity called Morocco“. Besides, what is Morocco, if not “a foreign entity implanted in the body of Africa to serve the interests of the colonial powers»? They didn't know how to place it but the “momentum” came at the right time: Morocco is the regional headquarters of Israel SA A beautiful right. Boom! The very official Algerian press agency speaks about it elsewhere. And soon, the entire universe will be seized, promises a PNR spokesperson.
There is also a nice scoop: the Sahara has definitively lost its exclusive status as the last colony of Africa. It has just been split by the Rif. It’s official and it was said during the “ceremony”: “Western Sahara and the Rif should be considered as the two last colonies of Africa“. And this is how the long and sad love story between Algiers and Polisario ends. The corporals eventually grew tired of him and now preferred a much younger companion. They are blowing hot and cold in this since while the “speakers” were pleading for a “peaceful struggle”, the regime was distilling, through its influencers, a call for armed struggle.
Obviously, and now, let us make our own and defile the memory of Abdelkrim El Khattabi and of the entire Rif struggle against colonization. And let's not forget to thank the mentor, the business angel and the host land: Algeria. It was at this moment of the happening that the applause was loud and ululations broke out in the room. By the way, who was there? Count, in the first row, all the leaders of Algerian political parties, representatives green with jealousy of the Polisario front and, for the “international” part, a minister delegate from the South African government and representatives from Mozambique. We won't tell you which ones, it's a state secret. The most important thing to remember at this point is that all the leaders of the Algerian political parties, including the FLN and the RND, were packed into the front row.
In substance as well as in form, that will be pretty much everything. Nothing then. But you have to see the media hype surrounding this charade to understand the degree of desperation of a regime which is miserably trying to open a new front against Morocco. FromEnnahar has TSA passing through El Khabar, L’Expression…all the press titles and the Algerian media relayed this circus.
A grotesque attempt to make people forget all the failures accumulated by Algiers on THE issue: the Moroccan Sahara. The only real lesson to be learned from this Algerian-Algerian affair is that it demonstrates the pathological hatred of the regime towards Morocco and Moroccans. A regime ready to do anything, even to make a fool of itself, for the sole purpose of disturbing its neighbor.
Read also: Rif: development, antidote against “crisis brokers”
The tide having turned in the Sahara issue to the detriment of its former foe, the Polisario, the Algerian regime is firing on all cylinders. This umpteenth provocation has everything of a desperate act, on the part of a power which has ceded what remained of its sense of moderation in favor of a resolutely suicidal attitude. This, while more and more voices, even Algerians, are stepping up to denounce the annexation by French Algeria of vast territorial areas historically belonging to Morocco. Arrested by the Algiers regime and missing for more than a week, the Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was the last to pay the price at the cost of his freedom. It is also striking to see the calls for the “independence” of the Rif featured on the front pages and main pages of the Algerian media… in the same way as the insults towards Sansal, accused of undermining the territorial integrity of Algeria . Welcome to the madmen.
