Lt General Gaid Salah: “ANP Army determined to throw terrorism scourge into dustbin of history”

The National People’s Army (ANP) is about to “stamp out definitively” the scourge of terrorism, said Thursday in Bechar province, south-western Algeria, Army Corps General, Ahmed Gaid Salah, Deputy Minister of National Defense, and Army Chief of Staff.

“We in the ANP, worthy successors of the National Liberation Army (ALN), are about to face up to the standing challenge by overcoming definitively the terrorism plague, and sending it into utter oblivion” asserted Mr. Salah Gaid on the second day of his working visit of inspection in the 3rd Military Region (MR) of Béchar.

The ANP will work, also under the wise guidance of the President of the Republic, “to live up to the challenge of completing the building of a strong, modern and dissuasive national Army, whose backbone is its human resource who is conscious of its historical and national dimension, and who opts for science and knowledge as a process, and the laborious and fruitful work as a means to safeguard Algeria as its ultimate goal and purpose,” he added.

After recalling the milestones covered on the path of development and modernization, Lt General Gaid Salah pointed to “the firm determination of the ANP High Command to fully root out the scourge of terrorism from our country so as to concentrate our efforts for the building of a strong and modern Army, whose backbone lies in its skillful and competent human resource”, he pointed out. 

“We reiterate that the People’s National Army remains forcefully committed to the founding principles of the Algerian people, to their national and spiritual values, considering them as the right path, from which it draws its strength and the factors of its success and development, and undoubtedly the source from which it draws its firm willingness and inflexible devotion to protect Algeria,” stressed Mr. Gaid Salah. 

This visit aims at “inquiring about the situation and operational readiness of the ANP units and strengthening the direct and permanent contact with the armed forces personnel,” said a communiqué of the National Defense Ministry.

On the first day of this working visit of inspection and at the headquarters of the 40th Division of mechanized infantry, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, accompanied by Major General Saïd Chengriha, Commander of the 3rd Military Region, held a broad-based meeting with the officers and personnel of the units based in the sector of Bechar, in the presence of representatives of different security bodies, during which he made speech underlining the importance of this meeting which coincided with the celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the outbreak of the glorious liberation War.

Lieutenant General, Ahmed Gaid Salah, also brought into focus by the same token the Algerian people’s untold sacrifices during the 130 French occupation years to recover their freedom, their dignity and the independence of their country, urging them to remain “totally committed to the lofty values and cardinal principles of our glorious liberation war.”

He further underlined “the gratitude of the personnel of the People’s National Army” to the content of the message of President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, Minister of the National Defense, addressed to the Algerian people on the occasion of the celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Glorious Revolution of 1st November 1954.