President Tebboune's ramblings
For an hour and forty minutes, the Algerian head of state covered all the issues that concern the Algerian street, except for political prisoners, the recent murders of citizens committed by police and gendarmes with total impunity, the excessive cost of living and all the issues that cause uproar, particularly those concerning Algerian-Moroccan relations.
Obviously, it was not a question of asking the Algerian president to respond to the latest speech by the Moroccan monarch, who is once again reaching out to put an end to a situation that does nothing to help the two peoples. The four journalists, two from the public press (An-nasr, a regional daily in the east of the country, and the television channel Internationale) and two from the private press (the Arabic-language daily Al-Khabar and the French-language daily l'Expression, which has a very limited readership) only had to read the prepared and directed questions, as was clearly demonstrated by the journalist from the new public channel "Algérie Internationale" (AI 24), who led the debates by announcing the subject of the question to be asked. It was a staging that demonstrated the absence of any free debate, even with journalists fully committed to the government's views.
What seems to have captured the imagination of the Algerian public are the topics addressed and commented on with great humour on the various social networks.
The first topic that provoked widespread hilarity was that of seawater desalination. As usual, the Algerian head of state likes to boast about what he considers his achievements. He discovered seawater desalination on 5 July, when he laid the first stone of a plant at Cap Djinet, in the wilaya of Boumerdes, some fifty kilometres east of Algiers. It was the first project for which he laid the first stone since his inauguration in December 2019.
This led him to extrapolate that Algeria would be the first in Africa and the 3rd in the Arab world to produce desalinated water. He goes on to say that Algerian production of desalinated water will be 1.4 billion m3 per day, once all the plants are operational. An incredible figure.
According to one water expert, this level of production could cultivate an area of more than 70 million hectares of tomatoes or equivalent crops. Enough to feed a large part of humanity. Tebboune is no doubt unaware that, according to reliable sources, there are 18,000 seawater desalination plants in the world. They produce 95 million m3 per day. This is a far cry from the extravagant figures presented by the Algerian president. To reach Tebboune's production target, 265,000 plants would be needed. Algerian television was aware of the president's gaffe and quickly cut off the last word of his phrase "per day". But everyone kept the trailer containing this nonsense that only Tebboune knows how to make.
The public, who followed this press conference, also laughed at the Algerian president's use of popular language as if he were in an Arab café, invoking a conspiracy of which Algeria is a victim. And what a conspiracy it is! That of beans and lentils. No more than that. And Tebboune swore that if he arrested one of the conspirators he would make him regret the day he was born.
Another of the Algerian president's ramblings concerns the fulfilment of his election promises. Promises we have never seen. We only know that there were 54 of them, in reference to the year in which the war of liberation began. During this press conference, Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared that he had fulfilled 75% of his promises. However, apart from laying the foundation stone of the seawater desalination plant and the Media City, which he never mentioned in his election campaign, he has not inaugurated a single project and has not launched a single work. He has not made a single working visit outside Algiers since his arrival in the El-Mouradia palace. This is what has led many internet users to claim that "Tebboune has destroyed 75% of Algeria, and the remaining 25% he will finish before the end of his mandate. He will be the first president in the world to leave his country in ruins".
In terms of serious problems, two stand out. France and Niger, as well as Morocco, which Tebboune always avoids in his media appearances as if the country did not exist.
As for Algerian-French relations, Tebboune treats them as if they were ordinary. "My visit to France has not been cancelled. It is on my agenda and on Mr Macron's agenda. We are waiting for it to be scheduled by the Elysée," he said, adding that "I am not going there as a tourist, but to do something serious".
Niger, a country with which Algeria shares 1,000 kilometres and which is in a very delicate situation following the coup against President Mohammed Bazoum, does not seem to be among President Tebboune's priorities. However, during the demonstrations in the streets of Niamey, the Algerian flag was clearly waved alongside the Russian flag. A well-orchestrated manoeuvre by the Russians, who want to drag Algeria into their wake in their conflict with France in Niger. The Algerian head of state seems to oppose the 26 July 2023 coup d'état, calling for a "return to legitimacy". This does not please the Kremlin, which summoned General Saïd Chengriha, Algerian army chief of staff, on 31 July for a working visit in connection with the coup in Niger four days earlier. The Russians are banking heavily on Algerian airspace, which runs in a straight line between Algiers and Niamey. According to Moscow, this airspace should be closed to French military aircraft, but why not open it to the Russian army if necessary?
Tebboune pretends to know nothing about this Franco-Russian duality, and gives evasive answers from the first mention of the subject, using the usual wooden language.
In the end, this umpteenth meeting with hand-picked journalists from a press that is submissive and subservient to a regime that accepts neither criticism nor contradiction. Everything the government and its two bosses, Tebboune and Chengriha, say, even in their wildest ramblings and most outlandish extravagances, is to be applauded.