An extremely worrying Presidential Decree — No. 24-218 of 21 Dhou El Hidja 1445 corresponding to 27 June 2024 — was signed by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and subsequently published in the Official Journal No.46. It facilitates the increasing militarisation of the State but gave no reasons for its promulgation.

The decree — which we believe may be part of the deal whereby the army supports Tebboune re-election in return for a number of concessions such as greater control of the country’s diplomatic and intelligence services (AF0224, AF0324 and AF0524) — allows senior officers to benefit from a secondment mechanism. This offers them the possibility of being placed at the head of public civilian administrations. 

The decree’s modalities are highly ambiguous and contradictory. For example, the duration of secondment is set at ‘one renewable year, up to a maximum of three years,’ but the next clause allows for an extension which suggests that a secondment, if approved by the defence minister, could be indefinite. 

The decree enables officers to be called upon to lead ‘strategic public service sectors’ that are ‘sensitive to sovereignty’, but does not define the sectors. One can therefore envisage them controlling and managing almost anything and even large corporations such as Sonatrach: they are all subject to pubic civil administration.

The danger of having a muzzled media is that there has been little or no discussion about the decree, although a few commentators have dared to suggest that it is part of the deal whereby the army supports Tebboune’s second term. Some sources suggest that it may be to improve certain public administrative sectors but, given the army’s record in such fields, this is unlikely. 

Menas Associates has, however, now had an additional week for our reliable sources to investigate the reasons for the promulgation of the new decree, which are as follows: 

• It is a first step towards the militarisation of all state sector organisations which is being modelled on that in Egypt under President Abdelfattah el-Sisi’s Egypt.

• Army Chief of Staff, General Saïd Chengriha’s hand-picked senior army officers will replace various politically unreliable intelligence service officers currently placed in all state administrations and enterprises. In General Mohamed Mediène’s heyday, senior DRS officers were placed in every state body, thereby giving him effective control over the entire state, including the army, which he controlled through the DCSA. With the 2013-2015 dismantling of the DRS — following the army’s discovery of the DRS’ involvement in the In Amenas terrorist attack — the intelligence services have become fragmented, corrupt, and politically unreliable. Chengriha’s plan is to gain control of the entire State using his own chosen army officers. 

• Tebboune’s agreement to sign this decree is apparently in return for the army’s support of his own re-election. 

• The decree provides a means of ‘double enrichment’ for senior army officers. Besides their army package — salaries, bonuses, medical insurance, pensions, accommodation, travel allowances, etc — the same plethora of benefits can be plundered from the positions to which they are seconded. 

• The army is top-heavily overcrowded. It has some 460 serving generals, an equal or greater number of retired generals, and an unknown number of colonels, all of whom are expecting to enrich themselves in the same way as their predecessors. This has become a problem for the high command because the ‘cake’ is only so big even allowing for criminal activities. By opening access to these other state sectors, an almost unlimited number of opportunities are available for kleptocratic plunder. 

• These opportunities provide General Chengriha with a new means to control an expanding, politically restless and potentially mutinous corps of senior officers. Any who step out of line can have their secondment and its benefits cancelled.

The July 2024 issue of Algeria Focus also includes the following:

Politics

• President Tebboune confirms his candidacy for a second term
• Implications
• Another step towards the militarisation of the State…
• Polisario head is sued for crimes against humanity
• Algeria’s population is ageing and divorcing more often

Foreign Relations

• Algeria transfixed by France’s parliamentary elections
• Moroccan diplomacy continues to outperform Algeria…
• US investors want clear legislation
• Sahel federation threatens Algeria and Western mining interests

Security

• Regime fears re-emergence of the Hirak

Energy Sector

• New exploration round in Q4