[Twitter] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is taking to Twitter to broadcast the group’s radical message.
Al-Qaeda assails government to lure disgruntled Algerians
By Walid Ramzi in Algiers for Magharebia – 29/04/2013
With long-winded statements on social media, al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate is taking aim at the Algerian state.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) issued two long, rambling statements on Twitter last week, attempting to exploit corruption cases in Algeria.
In the first statement, published April 21st, AQIM slammed Algeria for failed progress and linked the on-going debate about corruption cases to the 2014 presidential election. The second statement, issued on Friday (April 26th), took the same tact, directly criticising Oil Minister Chakib Khelil. The same declaration also questioned the suicide of a Sonatrach official.
Both statements carried the signature of Sheikh Ahmed Abu Abdul-Elah Al-Jigli Al-Jazaeri, a media official with the terror network.
Al-Qaeda’s use of Twitter to talk about corruption and question Algerian authorities’ efforts to bring to justice all those involved sparked angry reactions among security experts and citizens.
Saida Benhabyles, an activist and former minister, said that AQIM was “using the same method as opportunists and trying to exploit all circumstances and developments to achieve its goals and hit Algeria”.
“AQIM has used religion, manipulated regionalism and language and is now using corruption because it’s the topic of the hour,” she said.
“In fact, AQIM wants to exploit corruption to win people’s confidence which it lost because of its crimes against Algerians and foreigners,” she added. “The group is raising a sensitive issue for Algerians, i.e. stealing public money, and is thus targeting the authorities’ efforts to combat this phenomenon.”
To the former minister, AQIM’s use of corruption at this particular time was not a surprise. “Each time, the group tries to look for a means or a justification to try to attract Algerians’ attention,” she noted.
“In the past, it used religion and fatwas that authorise killing, and is now using corruption to justify killing and bombing under the pretext of fighting corruption and corrupters,” Benhabyles continued.
“AQIM is claiming to be fighting corruption, but it has actually committed the biggest kinds of corruption by kidnapping innocent people, killing them and demanding ransom for their release,” she added. “It has also targeted the houses of innocent people and unarmed citizens to steal their money and forced traders and farmers to pay money. In this way, they are the first symbols of corruption and biggest corrupters on land because sedition and killing are corruption.”
In his turn, Kamal Hadef, a researcher in terrorism, said that AQIM’s statement was “nothing but a media manoeuvre”.
“The statement is purely a show and an attempt to be part of the trend and take advantage of popular anger among Algerians,” he added. “AQIM realises this quite well and is trying to appear as if it is living with the people and is thus trying to make it up for its military failure with unreal media successes.”
Former military officer Taher Ben Thamer also suggested al-Qaeda was turning to social media because of a failure on the battlefield.
“The group’s military inability has made it opt for a media and electronic confrontation through a number of statements on websites and tweets on Twitter to win new supporters,” Ben Thamer said.
“The group always looks for words to make its speech acceptable to Algerians,” the military expert added. “It is no longer using religious speech, at least in speeches addressed to the Algerian public. Rather, it is focusing on specific topics and simple words in which they criticise the authorities and try to exploit people’s anger.”
Mohamed Hamu, a 51-year-old university professor, said, “There is no Algerian who would accept the theft and pillage of this country’s wealth, but this is no justification for the machine of killing, destruction and logic of takfir that AQIM is trying to impose on Algerians.”
“The group is trying to exploit young people’s anger over what is happening in Algeria to realise its goals which it has failed to realise over two decades,” the professor added.
Other Algerians had similar views on the al-Qaeda propaganda.
“How can those people talk about corruption when they were the ones who resorted to killing and intimidation and pointed their guns and bombs at innocent people?” asked Saleh Othmani, a 40-year-old employee.
He added, “Corruption is not just stealing money; killing people is corruption, looting is corruption and intimidating citizens is corruption.”
