Bengrina between Clowning and Grave Revelations
Failure of Tebboune and His Maghreb without Morocco!
It is true that Abdelkader Bengrina, who proclaims himself the number one supporter of Tebboune, is regarded as the number one clown in the country, even though his antics are far from amusing to those who watch him in action. However, his revelations about Tebboune are the most shocking.
We saw him handing out caramels in Tebboune’s meeting hall in Constantine, sliding down a slide, and distributing flyers bearing Tebboune’s image. It is amusing, certainly. But there are also thunderous statements that shed light on the level of those who enthusiastically back Tebboune’s already pre-determined candidacy.
Let’s skip over the statements bordering on the ridiculous, a volatile cocktail of religion and politics, and his failed announcement of Tebboune as the candidate of the El-Bina Movement, a microscopic party with barely two or three followers.
In Bejaia, where Bengrina claims to challenge the Kabyles, an astonishing revelation was made. It concerned Tebboune’s failure to realize the idea of a Maghreb without Morocco. An idea with no future, even though Tebboune improvised a meeting in Algiers on March 2nd, during the 7th Summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
A second meeting brought the three leaders together in Tunis on March 23rd. “The first consultative meeting between the leaders of the three brotherly countries: Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya,” said the Tunisian Presidency on its official Facebook page, posting photos and a video of the tripartite meeting held at the Carthage Palace. And then, nothing more.
The Libyan Foreign Minister traveled to Rabat the day after the Tunis meeting to inform Moroccan leaders that “there was never any intention of considering a Maghreb without Morocco.” Tunisia followed Tripoli’s lead by appointing Hédi Baccouche as Secretary-General of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) in Rabat. Thus, Tebboune’s dream of marginalizing Morocco in the region came to an end.
Bengrina drove the point home by implicitly speaking of the failure of this famous union, mentioning the alignment of the “Western Sahara and Mauritania.” Here, one cannot help but wonder about the reasons for waiting for the Sahrawi entity, an Algerian creation, to join. The answer is easy to guess. No Maghreb country recognizes the existence of the phantom Sahrawi Republic. The Algerian regime is whistled offside by the very ones it thought it could win over.
