Algerian opposition criticises army interference in politics

Algerian opposition groups yesterday criticised the army’s interference in the country’s political affairs or their use as a tool to cover up the failures of the ruing authorities, alamatonline.net reported.

The criticism came in response to recent remarks made by the Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army Lieutenant General Ahmed Kaid Saleh who said: “Algerian [presidential] elections were transparent, but there are certain people who doubted them and wanted to mobilise the public against the results. Some of them were friends in the very near past.”

Saleh also accused the Algerian opposition of “seeking to erupt chaos”, saying the army would not allow this to happen.

A national Algerian body composed of a wide range of Algerian political parties and individuals, including former officials of the current regime, criticised Saleh’s remarks.

In a statement, the Committee for Freedoms and Democratic Transition said: “No one has to right to use the army in the political differences among the varying components of the Algerian nation.”

The committee refused what it referred to as “covering up the failure of the ruling authorities by the military institution”. It accused the regime of failing to run the public, social, economic and security affairs of the country.

It also accused the regime of misusing and the arbitrary use of power to “supress individual and public freedoms”.

The signatories of the statement stressed that the role of the army is to protect the country and “remain far away from the political differences”.

They accused the different authorities in the country of supporting the “choice of illegitimate control” over the country as well as “continuous support for election fraud”.

At the end of its statement, the committee called for establishing a national independent committee to oversee the “full respect of people’s sovereignty”.