Installation of the New DGDSE: A Chaos Reflecting the Decay of the Algerian Military Institution
The broadcast of images of the handover and installation of the new head of Algerian external security surprised many observers. The speech delivered on this occasion by the army chief of staff, General Chengriha, perfectly reflected the decay of the Algerian military institution.
By Hichem Aboud
The audience invited to this ceremony was composed of senior officials from the Ministry of National Defense and the army general staff. Directors and heads of central services of the ministry and department heads of the general staff were present. In his speech, General Chengriha immediately declared, while announcing the appointment of the new Director General of Documentation and External Security, “I order you to work under his authority, to obey his orders, and to execute his instructions (…).”
It is inconceivable to order all the senior army officials to submit to the authority of the head of external security, to obey him, and to carry out his orders. Although this statement reflects the state of decay in the Algerian army, it reveals that this speech was addressed to the DGDSE officials. A speech delivered just a few days earlier, on Sunday, September 22. And no one among the advisors and immediate entourage of the chief of staff thought to suggest changing the text of his speech. No, no one considered it. This shows the level of the officers surrounding General Chengriha. Officers who work in a climate of terror imposed by their leader. No one dares to propose, advise, or suggest anything to him, for fear of ending up in jail. Senior officers, like his chief of staff, Major General Saïd Djouadi, behave like simple enlisted men without rank.
Everyone thought that this handover between General Djebbar Mehenna and his successor, General Rochdi Fethi Moussaoui, was a remake of the one at the General Directorate of Internal Security during the appointment of General Abdelkader Haddad, alias Nacer El-Djen, and his predecessor, General Djamel Kehal Medjdoub. The appointment of General Nacer-El-Djen at the head of the DGSI has not been announced to this day, and no images of the handover ceremony have been broadcast on Algerian television channels.
As General Saïd Chengriha announced in his speech, General Moussaoui, alias Sadek, was appointed head of the DGDSE by presidential decree on September 19. Aside from the YouTube channel of the author @AboudHichemTV and the website lemediterraneen24.com, no media outlet or social network had announced it. Even more, until the broadcast of the images of the inauguration of the new DGDSE head yesterday, on September 25, there was no official announcement of the change at the external security directorate.
Of course, no one in the Algerian press would dare to point out this serious mistake made by the army chief of staff, who, in reality, has nothing to do with the DGDSE, as it does not fall under his prerogatives. But in Algeria, who would dare to call General Chengriha to order? Not even the president of the republic, supreme commander of the armed forces, and minister of national defense.
Speech announcing the appointment of General Moussaoui by General Saïd Chengriha:
