Kidnapping of Spanish national in Algeria highlights army’s deflection tactics

The Spanish national who has been kidnapped in southern Algeria last week was freed at last by the Touareg Azawad separatist movement FLA, which offered him to the Algerian regime. Algerian rulers took all credit in an attempt to hide their utter failure to protect their borders from rampant Sahel terrorist groups.

In a statement, the FLA said it interceded with “local notables” to release Spanish national Gilbert Navarro free, whom they handed to the Algerian authorities.

The Algerian nomenklatura, from the army to the presidency, spoke about the release as an achievement of the Algerian army, in a headlong rush that denotes a desperate attempt to evade responsibility for failing to secure its border from terrorist groups.

Both the FLA and the Algerian regime referred to abductors as belonging to “organized crime,” despite the fact that FLA is referring to the region of Menaka in Mali, which has become a hotspot of the Islamic State in the Sahel.

This kidnapping and the release afterwards reflect the close links between Algeria and Touareg separatist groups as well as the connection between the two and terrorist groups in the Sahel.

It also vindicates Mali’s recent denunciation of Algerian meddling in its domestic affairs and Algiers’ links to armed groups in the region.

The kidnapping of the Spanish national took place few weeks after the slaughtering of a Swiss woman in Djanet, in Algeria’s south.

The deteriorating security conditions in Algeria has prompted western embassies to warn against any travel to Algeria’s south.

Instead of fighting real terrorists in its south, Algeria is busy sending scores of peaceful political opposition figures and Kabylie independence activists to jail on sham terrorism charges.