London – Algiers – Quds-Press Agency: A former diplomat and current Algerian opposition politician cast doubt upon the significance of the information spoken of by Algerian official authorities regarding the danger of terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara,  and described the widespread reports about the danger of Al Qaeda in this region as “disinformation” intended to provide a security cover for bringing American forces into the region and a “security bogeyman” to excuse existing policies.

In exclusive revelations to Quds-Press, former diplomat and representative of Algeria’s “Rachad” opposition movement Mohamed Larbi Zitout accused influential parties in the Algerian secret services of “misdirection and fear-mongering” in the framework of the War on Terror, and indicated that this is part of a broader policy including bringing the Americans into the region.  He said: “There is gross exaggeration of the terrorist threat in the Sahel and Sahara.  The information being spread on this includes a lot of misdirection and fear-mongering by the Algerian secret services, who are working to create an environment for bringing American forces into the region, in accordance with the American doctrine that terrorism must be combated and eradicated wherever it is found so that it does not reach New York again.”

According to Zitout, the issue is part of a broader security strategy: “Spreading alarm about terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara is a strategy of the military secret services (I would not say of the whole Algerian regime, because there are factions in the regime that do not understand the reality of what is going on in the Sahara, and much of what goes on there is shrouded in darkness.)  That is because the armed groups found in that region were mostly manufactured by the Algerian secret services for several purposes, most importantly:

1. The secret services’s standing strategy of fear-mongering about terrorism in order to keep providing an excuse for the policies strangling Algerian society and enabling them to dominate the state.
2. To put pressure on weak neighbouring states and states with interests in the region, and appear as the state defending Europe from the terrorist threat coming from the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
3. To use American forces to defend the regime in case of any popular uprising against it.”

He added: “This is in addition to drug trading, which, according to confirmed American reports, has been yielding more than a billion and a half US dollars a year in recent years. This is a huge financial source for some of the higher-ranking officers in the Algerian secret services, who are found in the heart of the armed groups in the Sahara providing them with support, guidance, and care.”

Zitout accused the Algeria authorities of hiding the one responsible for kidnapping the German tourists (33 tourists from Germany, Spain, and Switzerland kidnapped in 2003 and released after the payment of a huge ransom, around 10 million euros according to some sources), namely Abderrazak el Para and  armed group leader Hassan Hattab, and demanded a fair trial for El Para attended by human rights observers: “The proof that the armed groups in the Sahel and Sahara are mostly linked to the Algerian secret services is Abderrazak El Para. He kidnapped the German tourists, and is now living in flats belonging to the Hotel Mouflon d’Or in the heart of Benaknoun in Algiers alongside repentant ex-armed group head Hassan Hattab.  I challenge the Algerian authorities publicly to bring Abderrazak El Para before a court attended by national and international human rights observers”.

In the previous week, Algeria had hosted the Sahel Summit including Mali, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad as well as Algeria, to study the reality of the security situation in the region and rebuild a security alliance to combat “the existing alliance between Al Qaeda and criminal networks in the region.”

Sunday 21 March 2010

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