For the past few days, young Moroccans from the Rif region (northern Morocco) have been making serious accusations on social networks about an operation carried out by the Algerian secret services to create a separatist movement in the Rif. At first glance, these young people don't look like much. They don't have what it takes to carry out such a serious operation. Until the appearance of a well-known Algerian youtuber on the social networks, who confirms the claims of the three young Moroccans, but gives a slightly different version

Sharp setback for Algerian secret services in Morocco

El general argelino Djebbar Mehenna - PHOTO/FILE — PHOTO/FILE - Algerian General Djebbar Mehenna

Hichem Aboud

Updated: 15/11/23

Mohsen Errifi, Saïd Barça and Ahmed Soltane, three idle young Moroccans living in Europe, are at the centre of a lurid affair led by the DGDSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), headed by Major General Djebbar Mehenna. One of the three is a political exile. He has already served a short prison sentence for taking part in the events in Al Hoceima in February 2017. He often travels to Algeria, which has become for him a country of substitution, as Morocco is for Algerian exiles.

He was then contacted by the Algerian secret services, who promised him help and assistance through a youtuber without telling him their real intentions. Saïd Barça discovered the scam and gave in to their manipulators, playing the fool to secure a large sum of money. He used two of his acolytes, Mohsen Errifi and Ahmed Soltane, to give the impression that he was leading a genuine separatist movement. A movement that demanded "the independence of the Rif region and the creation of a Rifian republic".

Everything was going well until the day the three young men were invited to make statements on the AI 24 television channel. A government channel aimed at the international community. Then things started to get difficult. The young Moroccans asked for 250,000 euros in funding, according to the Algerian youtuber. According to them, this sum is intended to finance a demonstration in Madrid and other activities.

Shocked by such a request, the Algerians play on the sensitivity of their political convictions by invoking the sacredness of the cause they defend. Their response is "Business is business". The whole affair was a mess. First, the three Moroccans accused each other. All the accusations revolved around money. Then, the Algerians retaliate through the voice of the youtuber, who gives his version of events, ruling out any intervention by the Algerian secret services. He said he was acting only on behalf of his channel, without specifying whether it was his YouTube channel or AI 24, the government channel. But what we do know is that he speaks as a representative of a group, using the word "we". As when he says "we don't give money" or "we offered to look after them in the hotel", and so on.

In short, this is a new scandal for the services led by General Djebbar. After the resounding failure of his operation to kidnap and murder an Algerian journalist in France and the recent dismantling of a network of criminals acting on behalf of the Algerian services of the DGDSE, the third has once again revealed the shortcomings of a service that lacks intelligence, the raw material of any intelligence service.

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