Algeria: the Kabyle movement MAK refutes any plan to attack

The Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK, independence movement) on Monday refuted any planned attack in Algeria and “

challenged

” the Algerian Ministry of Defense to provide proof of its accusations.

Read also: The Islamist shadow hangs over the Algerian Hirak

"

The Algerian Ministry of Defense has just seriously slipped by publishing a statement on its official website in which, without any evidence, it accuses the MAK of preparing terrorist attacks

," said MAK President Ferhat Mehenni in a statement. to AFP. The ministry announced on Sunday the dismantling of a "

criminal cell

" of "

separatist

" MAK

activists

, saying they were planning attacks against the marches of the popular Hirak protest movement.

In support of his accusations, he cites the confession of a certain H. Nourredine, whom he presents as an ex-member of the MAK, revealing the existence of a “

perfidious criminal plan aimed at carrying out these attacks (. .) and to implore foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the country

”. “

We refute everything. This man is in no way an activist of the MAK

”, hammered the spokesperson of the movement, Aksel Ameziane, contacted by AFP. "

We challenge the Algerian Ministry of Defense to give the name of this alleged activist of the MAK, his date and place of birth,

" added the president of the movement.

The Algerian public channel TV A3 disclosed on Monday evening the identity of the man, Haddar Nour Eddine, and broadcast the extract of a testimony in which he presents himself as an arms trafficker and says he bought some on demand. of MAK members.

The individual claims to have been contacted by MAK officials from Bouira and Tizi Ouzou, two towns in Kabylia.

He also specifies that the president of the Kabyle movement, Ferhat Mehenni, "

receives money from everywhere

".

For their part, the two representatives of the MAK stressed to AFP that their organization is a “

peaceful movement

” which claims the “

right of peoples to self-determination

”.

A movement accused of separatism

Based in Paris, this movement, illegal in Algeria, born in the wake of the "

Kabyle Spring

" of 2001, is one of the pet peeves of the regime, which accuses it of "

separatist

"

aims

and anti-Arab racism.

Kabylia is a Berber-speaking region in northeastern Algeria that has traditionally rebelled against a very centralized state.

It is one of the strongholds of Hirak.

Read also: Algeria: these sympathizers who tire of a Hirak with no political outlet

With the approach of early legislative elections that it has called for June 12, the regime - whose pillar is the army - seeks by all means, including media, to discredit the pro-democracy movement, to back in the streets since the end of February.

The Hirak is today accused by the government of being infiltrated by activists of the Islamo-conservative movement Rachad and militants of the MAK, who would seek to drag the Hirak into a violent confrontation, according to the authorities.

Born in February 2019 from the massive rejection of a 5th term of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Hirak calls for a radical change in

the

political

“

system

” in place since independence in 1962.