Bouteflika to Hollande: “You’re fighting Jihadists in Sahel and arming them in Syria”

The former French Intelligence chief, Bernard Scarcini, has revealed in his newly-released book, entitled: “French Intelligence, New stakes” that Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, head of Saudi Intelligence services, was covertly backing Jihadists group in Algeria.

Bernard Scarcini said that the French Intelligence services had known for 20 years the existence of covert Saudi, Egyptian and Kuwaiti support networks for the armed Islamist groups operating in Algeria. The latter conveyed briefcases full of cash through Geneva, Lugano and Milan via humanitarian non-governmental organizations and trading companies to armed groups in Algeria, he indicated.

“We’re witnessing today the restructuring of the shadowy financing networks spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and mostly by Qatar which has shifted to a parameter of global financial methods that go through funds or investments for the benefit of some associations linked to armed groups active in Algeria and elsewhere in the world”, he underscored.

He also affirmed in his book that Qatar was using some NGO’s as a front to extend logistical support, to recruit and to train Jihadist groups in several hot-beds of tension and strife notably in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and in North-African countries including Algeria.

The former French Intelligence chief also harked back in his book to President François Hollande’s visit to Algeria in December 2012 during which the latter tried to persuade President Abdellaziz Bouteflika to involve the Algerian armed forces in the fight against Jihadist groups in Mali and in the whole Sahel region.

 In his reply, President Bouteflika told bluntly François Hollande: “We do agree to fight the Jihadists in the Sahel but why are you helping and arming them in troubled Syria?”.