To avoid the criticism levelled at his predecessor, Xavier Driencourt, the new French ambassador in Algiers, François Gouyette, is said to have received confidential instructions from the Elysée Palace forbidding him to receive or meet representatives of the Hirak, the popular protest movement demanding regime change in Algeria.
According to our sources, the Elysée also demanded a change of diplomatic personnel in Algiers, imposing in particular on the new ambassador the arrival of a new political adviser, in the person of Souhire Medini, who has a double advantage: a perfect Arabic speaker, she also has strong diplomatic connections in Africa.
The French subsidiaries of the Moroccan bank Chaabi Bank are at the heart of an investigation by Tracfin, the French Ministry of Economy and Finance’s agency in charge of the fight against tax fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing.
The investigations concern in particular accounts belonging to people close to the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to a confidential French memo, cadres of the Algerian Islamist movement Rachad were discreetly received by the MIT (Turkish secret services) in Antalya and Istanbul. The Rashad emissaries were promised financial and logistical assistance to strengthen their propaganda activities.
The proposal made to Morocco by the former Trump administration to establish an Africom (United States Africa Command) relay base there has angered the Algerian authorities at the highest level.
A recent meeting of the Turkish and Qatari secret services in Doha sealed a common strategy for the African continent. The plan has three components: economic investment, security and political-military cooperation.
The Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industry has launched vast investigations into the sources of financing of associations and mosques which advocate a “separatist Islam”, notably within the Islamist movement linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The new American President, Joe Biden, is fine-tuning his teams with a view to forming the next Administration, which will take office on 20 January.
