The Algerian-Egyptian media war which reached to a diplomatic crisis for sure has political reasons in the beginning and in the end , it is only using football and the long rivalry between the Algerian and the Egyptians not to mention the suppression both people live in.
I will speak about the Algerian media escalation which I do not fully understand and I am not alone ; many people like me wonder what is going in Algeria. We can understand what is going in Egypt very well our regime found a golden opportunity thanks to the Algerian media. We know very well our regime and its nasty tricks.
I know very well Press in most republic countries in the Arab world except Lebanon is controlled by the regime even those publications owned by the private sector and I know in a country like Algeria where the army controls everything no single article could be published without the approval of the regime especially when it tackles other country and so this campaign against us with all these fabrications were approved by the Algerian regime …why ?? From the 16th to the 18th the Algerian media went mad turning us to some kind of monsters to the Algerian public and of course we are people of high ego and self esteem then we got the war in Khartoum.
The point of no return I believe was when the Algerian press decided to go on with its lies that more 10 Algerian fans have been killed in Cairo despite the official denials of the Algerian Ambassador. It is not about the bus , for God sake there was not a single bus any Egyptian team took in Algeria that was not attacked but we have never spoken about it thanks to higher orders to preserve our relations with sister Algeria and guess what the Algerian media used to deny that there had been attacks there against our players too. Back to our issue there was kind of official approval in Algiers for this nasty lies as the ministers who came to Cairo had returned pretending that they were in hell. It is normal that the Algerian people go mad and angry to the level that our Egyptian businesses and interests in Algeria attacked along with our community is trying to leave the country as fast as they could.
Honestly starting from the attack on our businesses and interests I began to suspect that there is something more than sports rivalry and football fanaticism. When I began to read in Algerian Chorouk direct calls for the Algerians to leave Djeezy I knew that someone does not want Egyptian investments in Algeria and every economic decision has a Political decision behind it not a sports decision I am afraid.
This suspicion has grown more and more when I found out that suddenly Naguib Sawiris has to pay 100 of millions of dollars as taxes in Algeria right after the attack on his factory and his companies not to mention the theft of mobile handsets worth millions of dollars from his Ring Stores in Algeria which were smashed too “You can find the videos of its destruction all over the Youtube”. Naguib Sawiris is the first Egyptian businessman to hurt from the football curse as it seems but there are other businesses that suffered like Arab contractors which decided to freeze its project there. Up till now Citadel Capital does not suffer from the other woes of Egyptian companies there but may be because Citadel Capital originally is made of Gulf capital money.
From the 16th to the 18th of November things in Algeria were not like in Egypt , things were normal in Cairo compared to the battle prepared in Algiers by the State with false reports from Cairo and from false statements from ministers. In Algeria there was kind of public mobilization. Starting from the 16th of November the Algerians began to pack their things and head to Sudan. President Bouteflika and the army decided to transport thousands of Algerian football fans on their expenses , sorry not only on their expenses but on the air jets of the army itself. Thousands of Algerian football fans did not come on the board of Air Algerie but rather on the board of Algerian air forces C-130.
Algerians football fans or rather hooligans did not waste any time from buying or rather emptying the markets of Khartoum from weapons like knives and swords..etc. There were warning from a possible attack especially we had hopes that we would win and in that case those armed hooligans could kill our fans and our national teams in Khartoum. Our regime made us believe that everything was fine and that they would send special force 777 to protect our team plus Sudan had taken its precautions.. of course in real world we did not find 777 nor Sudan had imagined it would face something like that in that long night in Khartoum.I will not comment or speak about who were exactly the Algerian hooligans that night in the Stadium or in the street , especially in the street who chased our fans. There are lots of theories , some said that they were army soldiers ,some said they were ex-convicts pardoned by Bouteflika and some said that they were from the infamous “Haitysat” who are actually the thugs employed in elections
Here I am trying to find a real reason for the official Algerian escalation again this is not a free country with a free press ,it is as corrupted as us. As far as I could know till the first match the Algerian regime has been friendly to our regime , it is was not considered from the new axis of “Iran,Syria and Qatar” in the region. Our relations were perfect and it is enough to know Egypt was no.1 Arab investor in Algeria with billions of dollars invested there for giants like Orascom telecom and Citadel Capital.
There are couple of theories on why suddenly the Algerian state decided to escalate the matter and turn the Algerian people against Egypt :
1) Qatar is playing around , yes do not surprised but last month the Prince of Qatar visited Algeria with a very big economic delegation and so the theory says that Qatar wants to replace Egypt economically in Algeria ; what enforces the theory is how Al Jazeera is dealing with the matter and again the visit of the Prince of Qatar but what weakens it the fact that Algeria has a booming economy with opportunities for everyone to invest in and if I am not mistake Qatar will not invest in the same sector we are investing in. Still Al Jazeera was biased even in transferring the football matches , may be this because the number of Algerians in the channel now are more than the Egyptians who are quitting one by one because of the channel policies.
2) The Ambassador of Algeria in Cairo , Abdel Kader El-Hagar who is publicly persona non grata. Ambassador El-Hagar has one hell of record , he had caused a diplomatic crisis between Tehran and he was expelled form there. I think due to the rivalry between Tehran and Cairo he was accepted here and for some reason we did not check his record in Algeria itself. Those who support this theory depend on the facts that his statements in Cairo were contradicting with those in Algerian media . He was also very rude on Egyptian TV when he said “ I warn Egyptians from playing with fire” but again what weakens this theory is the fact that the Algerian regime must know that this is a man of regional and international diplomatic crises ; why would they let him lead them in to a new bigger diplomatic crisis with Cairo after the one he caused with Tehran?? Anyhow this man will not stay longer in Egypt.
3) Bouteflika is terribly sick , the man already suffered from Cancer before and he is not young. This is my first ever theory to be honest because in Cairo we have similar incidents. But the man has received his national team on the 19th of November , of course meeting with the national team does not confirm or deny anything. I am just saying again , we have been taught enough in Egypt to know what a diversion is especially when to it comes to the President’s health. But why would you create a diversion and also a diplomatic crisis with the biggest investor in your country !!??
4) Someone does not want our investment in Algeria , not Qatar but someone else , some general from their army generals with other country than Qatar ; may be a western country.
5) Ahmed Ouyahia has a hand in the issue , Ouyahia is from the expected presidential candidates after Bouteflika and he is just like our ministers in Egypt if I may say but with higher expectations and bloody experience “Really bloody resume that would make Ahmed Ezz a saint” . He is reported to stand against Arabic investment and that he is a close friend to Ronen Bergman. Ouyahia is said to be the financer of Algerian Al Chorouk which was leading the campaign against Egypt. He also was generous enough to send thousands of football hooligans on his expense. Ok what gain he will have from doing all this !!?? If he wants to be a president ,he should have regional allies , plus the Egyptian investments are there from 1998 !!??
6) Said Bouteflika , the younger brother of Bouteflika does not want the Egyptian investments. Said Bouteflika is looking forward to become the president of Algeria after his brother ; another kind of hereditary in North Africa. He is using this game to enforce his power against other generals in Algeria so he could inherit the rule from his brother whose health is going to bad to worse.
7) Said Bouteflika’s fight with Alaa Mubarak over some big arms deal from Lockheed according to Save Egypt front from London , strangely this website did not include the attack on the Egyptians in Sudan nor did it included the fact that the media in Algeria escalated the matter and there was a public mobilization in the country. I do not understand how a football match will help Alaa restore those billions !!??
8) Abdel Aziz Belkhadem also is planning to take over the rule after Bouteflika too and he is trying to win bounces.
Two theories are making the headlines now : Said Bouteflika and the Qatari role. Said Bouteflika is being accused more and more in Egypt that makes me wonder what is really between the Egyptian regime and the Algerian regime. There is no smoke without fire.
I know very well what is going in Cairo , this match my dear friends was used to hide the escape of NDPian Hany Sorour outside the country. This match is not used for the devilish plans of Gamal Mubarak , on the contrary if we won and he kept appearing with the national team here and there ; he would lose bounces.
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