Algerian rulers are running out of conspiracy theories
The Algerian regime has pushed its conspiracy theories to an absurd level as it continues to use domestic and foreign actors as scapegoats to blame for its self-inflicted authoritarian flaws which left its democracy-yearning youth impoverished and its economy heavily dependent on the price of the barrel.
The regime is now evoking the “black decade” when the army intervened to foil a democratic process instigating infighting with Islamist groups that left 200,000 people dead.
Algeria “is again facing sinister attempts to undermine the nation’s security and stability. These failing attempts have been recently manifested in the resumption of activity by some religious extremists that recall the 1990s,” said the regime’s King maker general Said Chengriha in a recent address to air troops.
Waving the Islamists’ threats is meant to thwart protests as Algeria sinks into social turmoil again with the forecasted prolonged drop in oil and gas prices after a peak due to the impact of geopolitical tensions in the black sea on the hydrocarbons market.
The Algerian regime knows the pro-democracy Hirak movement is lingering and it only needs a social spark to resume putting at risk the army-dominated status-quo.
To try to justify it is still relevant as defacto ruler of the country, the army has long used Morocco as a scapegoat on which it pinned all Algeria’s problems including climate-induced ones like Kabylie fires.
It then used a new terrorism law to criminalize political dissidents targeting the peaceful Kabyle independence movement and other activists sending scores to jail.
The media was muzzled as the regime put behind bars any journalist who derailed from the official narrative. The last remaining free media outlet, Radio M, was closed and its leader jailed on fabricated charges, forcing opposition leaders and independent journalists to shut up or seek exile.
As the regime runs out of conspiracy theories, so does its gas mantra. Despite the newfound revenue from hydrocarbons, the country fails to diversify its economy and imposes import restrictions to keep foreign reserves for upcoming tough days.
