Algeria: search of the home of General Gaïd Salah, a former strongman of the regime
Following the abduction of his four children by the internal security services (the DGSI), of whom there has been no news for over a month, it was now the turn of his family home to be searched by the same services, although the late general's entire family was not present. His widow is in Algiers, in a villa granted to her by President Tebboune the day after the death of the man who made him President of the Republic. His daughters are in their family homes and the four boys have been held hostage since the beginning of December.
The important figure of Gaïd Salah
According to sources close to Gaïd Salah's family, at around midnight, individuals in civilian clothes entered the villa without the two military guards permanently stationed inside the house reacting. Neighbours alerted the general's widow, who in turn alerted the police and the Annaba gendarmerie. When they arrived on the scene, the police and gendarmerie could only see the damage. Everything had been turned upside down. The bedroom of the deceased general was searched from top to bottom. The elements who searched the villa, without the advice of the public prosecutor, took all the documents in it, as well as the General's military medals.
This is not the first time that the home of a powerful figure in the Algerian regime has been raided by elements of the DGSI after his fall. The first to be raided was the late General Khaled Nezzar, former Minister of National Defence (from 25 July 1990 to 10 July 1993) and former member of the High State Committee (HCE), the body responsible for ensuring the continuation of the mandate of Chadli Benjedid, who was resigned by the generals in January 1992. Sentenced to 20 years in prison for "conspiring against the army and the state", Major General Khaled Nezzar fled to Spain in 2019 to escape the wrath of Gaïd Salah, then strongman of the regime. His villa was searched and documents were taken. They were not returned to him until his return to Algeria on 11 December 2020, following the death of Gaïd Salah a year earlier.
According to well-informed observers, what is happening to Gaïd Salah's family four years after his death is nothing more than revenge by those who were in prison and in exile during his time and who now occupy key positions. The first to take revenge on the former army chief is none other than Major General Djebbar Mehenna, the current head of external security. Under Gaïd Salah, he was removed from his post as central director of army security, having held it from 1995 to 2013, before being sent back to claim his retirement rights. A retirement that will not be easy for the man nicknamed "Kojak".
In October 2019, he was imprisoned in Blida military prison for "illicit enrichment and influence peddling". He was sentenced to 8 years in prison. He served only 11 months of this sentence and was released in July 2021. In November of the same year, he was appointed head of a new structure called the General Directorate for the Fight against Subversion, in charge of repressing political opposition inside and outside the country. On 3 September 2022, he was put in charge of the General Directorate of Documentation and External Security (DGDSE).
Relying on former members of the secret services who had distinguished themselves for their criminal acts during the bloody decade, notably Generals Hamid Oubelaïd, alias Hocine Boulahya, and Abdelkader Haddad, alias Nacer El-Djen, General Mehenna established his dominance over the Algerian secret services. To take revenge on General Gaïd Salah, he could think of no better ally than Nacer El-Djen, who was also one of the victims of the purge carried out by the country's former strongman. He had taken refuge in Spain, where he owned a luxury villa. On his return to the country, he was promoted to the rank of general, before being put in charge of the torture centre, "the Antar barracks". He is now preparing to succeed General Djamel Mejdoub Kehal as head of the DGSI. The latter, who suffered a hemiplegia the day after his death on 9 October, is currently hospitalised in Switzerland. He will soon hand over to Nacer El-Djen.
The biggest beneficiaries of the late Ahmed Gaïd Salah's generosity, President Tebboune and General Saïd Chengriha, the PNA chief of staff, are seen by public opinion as ungrateful to see their benefactor's family mistreated. But what can they do against the rise of the Djebbar-Nacer El-Djen duo? Time will tell.
