The boss of the Algerian army and as such the strong man of power in Algiers who resolutely displays his links with Moscow has nevertheless installed his own son, Chafik Chengriha, in Paris where the latter is cornered by a few senior officers, in particular Colonel Omar Zemirli.
Commander Chafik Chengriha, son of General Said Chengriha, Chief of Staff of the Algerian army, is trained as a computer engineer. Since 2020, the young Chafik has been living in Paris for the purposes of an internship which would be essential … to his training. An internship? What internship? Chengriha’s son is in fact attached to the military office of the Algerian embassy in Paris, one of the most discreet services of Algerian diplomacy attached directly to the Algerian Ministry of National Defence.
This office manages from Paris and in all opacity budgets of several million euros. These funds are used to finance the medical care of the many senior Algerian military officials who come to France for treatment. This office also supports the training of offspring of the nomenklatura in French civilian or military establishments.
In other words, the Algerian Chief of Staff is not immune to a contradiction. The strong man of Algerian power does not miss an opportunity to affirm his loyalty to Russia, the main supplier of armaments to Algeria, which he supports in particular in its conflict with Ukraine. But the same ensures that his son lives in Paris, at the expense of the Algerian taxpayer. And what is more within a department which manages the real scandal of the care dispensed in France to the Algerian officers and other privileged people of the system.
The Parisian sinecure is comfortable. The own son-in-law of Gaïd Salah, Chengriha’s predecessor at the head of the army, until December 2019, the date of his sudden death is suspicious, occupied practically the same functions at the Algerian embassy in France
The son Chengriha well supervised
In Paris, the road of Chafik Chengriha crossed that of a colonel who has become since 2021 one of the most influential lobbyists of the Algerian military seraglio in France. This is Colonel Omar Ould Zemirli, a former senior official of the Central Directorate of Army Security (DCSA), the all-powerful armed wing of the Algerian army. Attached to the famous DRS of the famous General Toufik, at least until the latter’s gradual eviction in 2015, this intelligence service gradually appropriated the main prerogatives of the Algerian security apparatus (army security of course, but also financial investigations, surveillance of journalists, etc.)
Colonel Omar resides between Paris and Lille in the north of France. His adversaries within the military institution do not hesitate to send a few spooks to France who scrutinizes the slightest of his initiatives. The irresistible rise of Colonel Omar began with the appointment of his own brother, General Sid Ali Ould Zemirli as head of the DCSA from the end of April 2020. Many officers who have been the subject of a deep purge led by the late Ahmed Gaid Salah from 2013 to 2014 to put an end to the power of General Toufik, were able to regain important positions thanks to the interventions of our colonel.
Colonel Omar’s power of influence was increased by frequenting Chafik Chengriha, whom he hosted at his home in Paris. This is how the colonel was able to influence the promotions, rehabilitations, and appointments of several officers. A real clan has formed at the heart of the Algerian military institution which aims to become its epicenter, as was the DRS of the good years 1990-2015.
But the untimely interventions of Colonel Omar ended up irritating Algiers and arousing the suspicions of the entourage of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. When the scandal erupted last January after the publicity given to the recordings of the videos of Ghermit Bounouira, the former private secretary of Gaid Salah yet detained in a high-security prison in Blida, General Said Chengriha found himself under the fire of the revelations on social networks. More than ever threatened with destabilization, Said Chengriha then asks his son to cease all relations with Colonel Omar.
New clan wars
Son Chengriha distances himself from his mentor but does not remain inactive behind the scenes. This situation risks once again shining the spotlight on Said Chengriha who, during the promotions which will take place every year at the beginning of July within the army, risks finding himself weakened against President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The latter will try to influence the appointments to forge alliances with part of the army. Beautiful chicayas in perspective. “If General Chengriha does not clean up his entourage, explains a former Algerian minister, he risks leaving feathers there”.
Many Algerian media are carrying out a ferocious campaign of denigration against Colonel Omar Zemirli and his protege. Behind Chafik Chengriha, it is clearly his father who is in the crosshairs of powerful clans.
Investigations, it is said, would be carried out by the Direction Générale de la Lutte Contre la Subversion (DGSLS), headed by the powerful General-Major M’henna Djebbar, a heavyweight in Algerian army and former member of General Toufik’s DRS. , which seeks to impose a new configuration within the Algerian power.
