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Note From the Editor
By Arezki Daoud
Algeria: How General Gaid Salah has become the main obstacle in the stability of Algeria
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General Gaid Salah is now the direct target of the popular movement. After he almost became a hero, following his pressure to oust unpopular President Bouteflika, he is now seeking to impose a solution to the crisis that no one in Algeria really wants, except the remnants of the Bouteflika regime. Gaid Salah has been directing everything despite the country having an Interim President, a Prime Minister and a National Assembly, all silent. The General has demanded the holding of a presidential election on 4 July that has even been rejected by the ruling parties of the FLN and RND. The deadline to file for candidate papers has come and gone, and not even the FLN/RND have submitted their applications. Yet, the 80-year-old officer wants his own way and sees that the current crisis resolved only with this non-sense election.
The rise of General Gaid Salah is a worrisome development for North Africa. If he gets his own way, he will be the third army man to rule over a North African country, with Egypt’s Sisi and Libya’s Haftar, two men who are playing a major destructive role, wrecking havoc on their own people. North Africa can do better than this!
For Gaid Salah, the road ahead is paved with major obstacles. His political foes, from retired General Hocine Benhadid to the media are accusing him of being in the pockets of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). If true, this will not be a shocking thing because the UAE has pumped money and weapons into Haftar war efforts in Libya so he would counter the Muslim Brotherhood there and prevent any concept of democracy, two things the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not tolerate. They are doing the same thing in Sudan, and why not in Algeria?
But Gaid Salah’s biggest obstacle is the stubbornness of the good people of Algeria. They too, will not tolerate another rogue regime. The protest movement this Friday, 24 May 2019, made it very clear that it understands the General’s game and delaying tactics. His speech of last Monday, described as provocative by the demonstrators, had the opposite effect: it attracted more protesters who have come out in millions today to demand his departure. In Algiers, despite the despicable repression and the state of siege by the gendarmerie and the police to prevent the gathering of protesters, hundreds of thousands of people have invaded boulevards and streets of the capital. Brandishing emblems and placards bearing slogans hostile to power, the protesters violently charged Ahmed Gaïd Salah, describing him as the “protector of traitors”.
The protesters also expressed their rejection of the military state that the regime’s supporters are attempting to re-introduce little by little. They also reminded Gaid Salah that they are rejecting his presidential election idea, scheduled for 4 July. The protesters are opposing attempts to divide the ranks of the popular movement. There have been growing attempts to divide Algerians along regional and ethnic lines, but their games have been spotted. And are demanding the departure of Bensalah and Bedoui’s government.
General Gaid Salah could single-handedly bring Algeria into the 21st century. He, and he alone, can make it a beacon of progress, peace, stability and economic development, so necessary to give the entire region a path to progress. The chance is his only. Or he could consolidate what the picture below illustrates.
North Africa’s new leaders: military chiefs Sisi of Egypt (left), Gaid Salah of Algeria (center) and Khalifa Haftar of Libya (right)
