Le Monde: Does the army support Bouteflika or take sides with the demonstrators?

The French newspaper Le Monde said the final decision in Algeria would go back to Major General Kaid Salah, commander of the National People's Army, whose tone has changed over the demonstrators several times in a month, not to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whom he has barely heard since he disappeared from the disease.

The Algerian crisis, by all accounts, will be resolved by the creation of this brigade, which is the strongest, if not the absolute, player in the Algerian political game since independence in 1962.

So the writer saw that everyone is looking for a sign to know whether the army will support the head of state until the end in his desire to extend his (fourth) after the expiration of the law on April 28? Especially that Bouteflika reiterated his desire to remain in office until a new presidential election after it postponed the current to an unspecified date.

He wondered whether the army would turn into the millions of Algerians who took to the streets every Friday for three weeks, not only to withdraw Bouteflika's candidacy for a fifth term, but to leave power without delay and to end the regime.

The writer concluded that the answer to this question will determine the future of the unprecedented democratic revolution in Algeria, and above that opens the way for the stability of the North African giant, what Kaid Salah says?

The writer said that Maj. Gen. Kaid delivered a mixture of conventional formulas derived from the traditional rhetoric of "the army and the people", in addition to secret signals that understand a more cautious attitude, away from the repression that some people initially feared, and predicted that if there was any development It tends to soften events, gradually adjusting to the growing popularity of the protesters' case.

De-wicking
But the tone did not change except after the March 8 demonstration that highlighted the power of the demonstrators. Kaid Salah appeared two days later to say that "Algeria is proud of its people and the army as well" and has increased its focus on praising "patriotism" and "civicism" Which is unmatched "by the Algerian people.

"Does this mean that the national army distanced itself from the head of state and his clan? However, he called for caution before any conclusion, given the lack of transparency of the Algerian regime.

The author of the political science researcher Kamal Shaklatt that the apparent moderation may be a "strategy to defuse" and may relate to the response to certain demands, but without changing the system. He added that the Liberation Army, which became the national army is the founder of the State of Algeria, and therefore considers himself a guardian in a way that Algeria was unable to free them.

"It is ironic that we see the current crisis reestablish the army in the position of government and thus reinforce its game of de facto rule, while President Bouteflika is proud to rebalance the relations between civilians and the army," he said.

The writer explained that the "normalization" of the relationship between civilians and the military crossed a new threshold in 2015, when Bouteflika's presidency was reduced by the Intelligence and Security Service, the powerful secret services in the army that constitute a real state within the state. Military, and therefore policy for 25 years.

At the beginning of 2016, the DRS was dissolved to allow for a new entity, the Control and Security Section, under the supervision of the Presidency. Throughout 2018, clearance operations deepened in the army, the gendarmerie and in the police.

Red line
General Kaid Salah, who heads the national army since 2004, oversees the broad reorganization of the security apparatus, yet re-defining the link between the army and civilians does not mean the army is losing control. "The army is still the guardian of the national values ​​temple, but now the idea of ​​a return to politics if the authority goes beyond the red line remains in its intellectual background," the author of the research at the French military school, Flavian Porat,

According to the writer, this "red line" is the relationship with Morocco and the goals aspired to by the Islamists in the state, or perhaps exacerbate the crisis of succession to power, before appearing suddenly three weeks ago, he said.

"The renewal of the crisis makes it possible to update the guardianship arguments of senior military officers, who are regularly referred to as alternative, by some politicians, including dissidents," writes researcher Thomas Ceres in his book Facing Algeria.

Hence, the paradox of the current crisis is that the protest calls for the "overthrow of the regime," while at the same time seeking to reassure the army, which is the backbone of the regime itself. "The army and the people are brothers."

"The contradiction is explained by the protesters' fear of themselves and their fear of being taken hostage," the author quotes Amal Boubakir, a researcher at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, as saying. The army is clearly happy to keep the Algerian taboos intact.

The "Algerian taboo," according to Boubakar, is the absence of transitional justice in relation to the "black decade." "There is no story contrary to the myth that the army protects the people." Major General Qaid Salah knows what he is playing when he declares that "the army is proud of the people" , Because that is an entry point to solve the crisis but at the same time could be a misunderstanding germ in the future.