Unsurprisingly, Algeria should record the official departure of Ramtane Lamamra from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after having put him in the closet for several weeks. The eviction should be done for the benefit of a perfidious incompetent, close to the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Fallen out of favor at the Mouradia Palace and with the approach of the presidential elections of 2024, Ramtane Lamamra knew that his time was approaching. Already since the election of President Tebboune in 2019, the profile of Lamamra had imposed itself on him because of the generals who voted for him in 2021, to succeed Sabri Boukadoum suspected of wanting to replace the president who was sick with covid, but also in view of his career and his address book which allowed him to restore the image of an Algeria that had fallen into disuse.
” It was he who worked to restore some luster to a moribund diplomacy inherited from Bouteflika. This native of Amizour, in the Soummam valley, managed to survive all the deluges that affected the regime,” notes the Morning of Algeria, in an article raising the question of the disappearance of the radars of the head of the Algerian diplomacy.
The last media appearance and ceremonial activity of Ramtane Lamamra dates back to February 26. His activities with foreign representatives were simply withdrawn from him in favor of Amar Belani, freshly appointed to the post of Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Since then, it is therefore Amar Belani who has simply replaced the Minister of Foreign Affairs, giving a clear signal of internal problems and the representation of power in Algeria.
“There is a situation of confusion which is anarchy (…) We do not know who is in charge, we see that there are two ministers in the Department of Foreign Affairs”commented the Algerian journalist, Abdou Semmar.
“This situation is not normal, it proves that the Algerian state is divided. One is close to the president, the other is close to the staff of the ANP, that means that the Algerian state is not homogeneous and that is not credible for a country “he reacted in a video on Youtube.
For him, foreign delegations and world powers will quickly understand that“There is something wrong (in this country). Who are we going to talk to? Who really holds the power? “.
Despite his connections and his flawless international career, Ramtane Lamamra could not last long at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and left through the back door, because of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune who sees in him a character with inclinations on the Mouradia Palace, a potential competitor to succeed him in power in 2024 who has the confidence of the great Western powers unlike him who enjoys no credit.
Saved by the army once and kept in his post so far, Ramtane Lamamra could no longer overshadow the Algerian president who has already started his campaign for the 2024 elections. relating to a renunciation of the diplomat in the presidential election in the coming years is not found, he is on the starting block.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune prefers to put in his place Amar Belani, a man who is devoted to him and who has shown his propensity to obey the most eccentric orders on command, giving an image of a sulphurous, unstable and extraordinary foreign policy.
Amar Belani, former spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Algerian ambassador in Brussels, whose only skill is to verbally tap Morocco, was called back to Algiers to occupy a post created tailor-made for him in September 2021. , that of “special envoy to Western Sahara and the Maghreb”, a position imposed by Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Ramtane Lamamra despite his reluctance.
This preposterous position, however, characterizes the shift in Algerian diplomacy, which now focuses on fighting Morocco and making it its number one concern. It is in this logic that relations with the neighboring country have been severed and openly threatening statements have become legion.
A year after his appointment as “special envoy”, Amar Belani was propelled by the Algerian presidency, at the head of the general secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And since he was appointed, the two-headed ministry has borne the brunt of rivalries between the presidency and the army.
The president with the help of Amar Belani has blocked the appointments of new diplomats suggested by Ramtane Lamamra and his movement in the diplomatic corps seeks to erase those close to Lamamra appointed in July 2022.
Lamamra is thus ousted “silently”, because the two reasons which would justify his sidelining will in no case be recognized by the regime in place: His bitter failure on the Moroccan Sahara file where he did not mark no point in the face of the Kingdom’s brilliant victories, but also his “supposed” inclinations, accused that he is of eyeing Tebboune’s chair.
The latter, knowing he had come to power by breaking and entering, has only conspiracies to stay there!