The Americans have their “Private Ryan” saved by his comrades during the Second World War, the North Africans now have their ” child Rayan ” who, unfortunately, could not be extricated alive from the bottom of a well despite the efforts of his compatriots and the prayers of all the peoples of the region.
Private Ryan is cinema, fiction from the imagination of Steven Spielberg, and had its happy ending. Little Rayan is true, as his ordeal and the sad end he met are true.
The five-year-old Moroccan child stuck for several days at the bottom of a well, therefore, could not be saved, plunging into mourning all those who, in the four corners of Morocco and in several countries, had been praying for him since Tuesday. last.
The fate of the child moved beyond the borders of the kingdom. In Algeria, the adventures of the attempt to rescue him were followed with great anguish.
Rayan fell into a 32-meter pit on Tuesday (February 1 ) near his home in Chefchaouen province in northern Morocco. After ensuring that he is still alive, an operation to fish him out was launched by the authorities and the population.
Social networks helping, the news quickly went around the country, then all over the Maghreb and even beyond. The rescue operation turned over the hours and days into a real soap opera followed in real-time, minute by minute, down to the smallest detail. There are dozens of lives on social networks, in addition to reports and live broadcasts from many media in the Maghreb, the Middle East, and even Europe.
In Algeria, the fate of the child recalled that of young Ayache, a victim of a similar accident in 2018 in the M’sila region. Ayache was no luckier than Rayan, but the attempts to rescue her had also kept the whole country in suspense.
Same hope, same anguish, and the same pain
So since last Tuesday, the drama that was taking place in the Rif has been followed in all regions of Algeria as if it were taking place in one of them.
The lives of Moroccan pages are shared by Algerian Internet users and the slightest information is passed on in real-time. Many Algerian families watched, waiting for the good news. All of Algeria prayed for the child and his parents.
The fate of little Rayan eclipsed the rest of the news. For five days, Algerians and Moroccans forgot the disappointments of their respective football teams in the African Cup of Nations.
Above all, they set aside politics and its vicissitudes. Major influencers and many Algerian public figures have multiplied prayers on social networks. Among them, the sports commentator Hafid Derradji who, a few days ago, was the subject of attacks from certain Moroccan Internet users. The child of the Rif has transcended divisions and made people forget grudges.
The prayers, then the tributes, are countless. Ryad Mahrez, Ismaël Bennaceur, Cheb Khaled, Soolking and many personalities from various backgrounds have expressed their pain.
During these five days of February 2022, the peoples of the Maghreb shared the same hope and the same anguish and then, alas, the same pain.
