Who Is Targeted With The Statements Of Gaid Salah?

Deputy Defense Minister, Commander of the National Popular Army, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, did not wait long to respond to the parties of the political equation that entrenched the military institution in its party speech, to confirm that this institution is located at a distance from everyone and is far from politics, in line with the role of the Constitution.

Maj. Gen. Gaid Salah said: “It has become a bad act, strange and unreasonable, and even unacceptable, that as each elections, instead of working to gain the confidence of the Algerian people by paying attention to their urgent concerns, some people and some parties are deliberately moving away from the core of political wisdom.”

“The army rejected the interventions, some commentaries and some talks, which do not guarantee and do not starve. The army is neither the shackle that some losers put on their backs nor the tree that some want to forestall”.

The “point of order” by the Maj. Gen. Gaid Saleh is a respond to the parties of the political equation, after some went to wonder about what it called the silence of the army leadership, which made some observers engage in interpretations on the initiative of “national consensus”, especially that the “Makri” initiative was the focus of meetings that brought together the initiator, which is the Movement for a Peaceful Society and pro-power parties represented by the two parties of the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the Popular Movement before it, pending the forthcoming meeting of the MSP and RND leaders.

Qaid Saleh in a speech waited a lot, and if the military establishment itself on those interpretations, and confirmed its commitment to its role specified in the Constitution,but observers differed in reading the message of Deputy Defense Minister

Even if the military institution itself refuted those interpretations, and confirmed its commitment to the role that is specified in the Constitution, but observers disagree reading the message of the Deputy Defense Minister, in other words, is it mainly directed at the party that launched the initiative, represented by the MSP party? Or the leadership of the Liberation Front Party FLN, represented by the General-Secretary of the party, Djamal Ould Abbas, who spoke in a way that gave the impression that he is the “guardian” of the military institution? Or to all sides of the political equation that exploited the controversy that accompanied the initiative, and began to involve the army in their speech?

Clarifications that followed the statement of the Army Chief of Staff, provided indications of the parties that are concerned with the words of Gaid Saleh. The first of these statements are those issued by Abderrazzak Mokri and Ould Abbas, meaning that the two men are directly concerned with the message of the army leadership.

Makri said that his movement does not “feel that it is concerned with this response, because it did not invite the army to intervene, but talked in the context of the presentation of the initiative”, and builds this position, as stated in his Facebook page, the fact that his initiative did not call for the intervention of the army in politics, but to “contribute to ensuring the protection of national consensus if it occurs between Algerians.”

Makri also relied on the approach that the condemnation of the deputy defense minister aimed at “partisan and political rivalries”, while “the movement did not engage with any party regarding the role of the army”, anouncing the movement’s endorsement of the Gaid Salah’s statement and considered it “a civilized approach that serves the national interest”.

It is understood from the words of Makri, that Ould Abbas is concerned with the message of Gaid Salah, because he is the General Secretary of FLN, and he is the one who turned the discussion off course, when he talked about the army’s intervention in politics, trying to draw the limits of the functions of the military institution, an idea that was not presented in the initiative of MSP, according to its president.

The position of Ould Abbas did not differ from that of the Deputy Minister of Defense, which was welcomed by both of them, but also reminded them of the army’s constitutional functions, when he said, “Each institution has its functions and constitutional powers, including the army, which plays its role in defending the national territory and the unity of the people”, far from the practice of politics, which remain at the heart of the work of political parties, as Ould Abbas said.

Pending further comments and readings of the Deputy Defense Minister’s letter, it is possible to say that Makri and Ould Abbas blessed it, but they disagree about who is targeted. So who is the real target of the Maj. Gen. statements.