Mercenaries' transport to Libya: An insidious Moroccan Lobby behind mendacious accusations against Algeria
The US – based Moroccan lobby has heinously prodded the Libyan Opposition to accuse Algeria of backing the Kadhafi regime by allegedly using Algerian planes to transport foreign mercenaries towards Libya.
- Well – informed sources told Echorouk that the press conference held last Friday in Washington by former Libyan immigration affairs minister, Ali Richi, was orchestrated by a Moroccan national settled in the US namely Mohamed Said El Aoufi.
- The latter is at the pay of the Moroccan intelligence services under the cover of press correspondent for the French TV channel “France 24” in Washington.
- Said El Aoufi was previously press attaché at the Moroccan Embassy in Washington in the 90’s.
- For his part, former Libyan Minister Ali Richi has, of late, jumped on the bandwagon of the Libyan opposition. He has a dual nationality: Libyan and American.
- Ali Richi who spends more time in the USA than in Libya, was a teacher at a US University.
- At the resumption of diplomatic ties between the US and Libya, he was summoned by Muammar Kadhafi who allotted him a post of Minister in charge of immigration affairs.
- Ali Richi was the first minister to resign from the Libyan government. Just after his resignation, he flew to the US and was the first guest of the CNN TV Channel to talk about “the popular revolution” in Libya and to try to sully the brand – image of Algeria through a mendacious and vile rhetoric.
- He did not waver to brazenly assert that “the Libyan opposition was disappointed at the position of Algeria which didn’t denounce Kadhafi’s horrendous crimes adding that Algeria had not backed the popular movement in Libya”, as he put it.
- Going from bad to worse, impostor Ali Richi also told bluntly the Washington – based TV Channel “El Mohajir” that “mercenaries from the Polisario Front of western Sahara were fighting alongside pro-Kadhafi forces in the war against the Libyan people”.
- It should be noted that a foreign affairs’ Ministry communiqué issued earlier this week in Algiers firmly denied allegations spread by certain Arab TV Channels and websites about the so-called transport on board Algerian aircraft of mercenaries to Libya.
- The communiqué stressed that such insidious and malevolent allegations were in total contradiction with Algeria’s well-established stand which is totally against any interference in other states’ internal affairs.