Western Senior Officials Visit Algeria In A Sensitive Circumstance

Since last Tuesday, Algeria noticed a Western diplomatic presence (French-American) that was marked by the visit of Senior officials of the two superpowers, but this “presence” passed in unusual silence and calm, despite the interest that was shown by Washington and Paris to the situation in the Maghreb and the Sahel regions.

This “presence” coincided with the rapid developments that are taking place in the country due to what was known as the “Kamal al-Boshi” affair, which exploded with the seizure of more than seven quitals of cocaine in the port of Oran (Western Algeria), and the consequent dramatic repercussions, including the overthrow of one of the most prominent faces in the country, the General Director of National Security, the Major General, Abdelghani Hamel.

French Secretary of State to the Minister of Labor and Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, paid a visit to Algeria last Tuesday, and he was received by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and Local Communities and Urbanization, Salaheddine Dahmoune, and his visit came when the Maj.Gen. Abdelghani Hamel was dismissed by the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Olivier Dussopt’s visit is said to fall within the framework of the strategic cooperation between Algeria and France in accordance with “the instructions of President Bouteflika and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron”, according to a statement of the Algerian Interior Ministry.

There was little information about what was going on between the French official and his Algerian counterparts, and there was only a statement from the Interior Ministry that showed with a touch of superficiality this visit, which came suddenly and in a circumstance that is very vague.

Immediately after the visit of the French official, a senior US administration’s official, John J. Sullivan, the US Deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who had meetings with senior Algerian officials, headed by the Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia and the Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel.

The visit of the American official came on the occasion of the fifth session of the Algerian-American dialogue, and it was an opportunity for the Algerian party to express the government’s concerns about the nature of the Algerian-American relationships that are marked by the dominance of security and intelligence dimension that serves the American side over the economic dimension, which is Algeria’s concern due to the bad conditions of its national economy.

Algeria Foreign Minister asserted, during this visit, that Algeria aspires to “develop bilateral relationships and expand them to other areas of common interest, including the economic dimension, in the spirit of partnership, mutual respect and friendship”, a concern that was raised on more than one occasion, but to no avail, while the US official revealed “The aspiration of the Algerians to organize a transparent and democratic Presidential Elections.”

Media and political debate that was left behind by the Kamal al-Boushi case, overshadowed the visit of the French and American officials due to the international dimensions of the incident.

If there is no leakage of reference to discussions between Algerian officials and their French and American counterparts on the case, but the quality of this operation and the quantity of the seized drugs (cocaine) may impose itself on the discussions, especially since this type of drugs is unusual in terms of consumption in Algeria and especially with such quantities.