Algeria claims 'terror plot' by separatist Amazigh group MAK and 'foreign intelligence services'

Algeria has reportedly thwarted a terrorist attack aimed at undermining the country's security, claiming it was being committed from France and involves an Amazigh separatist movement, just ahead of a crucial presidential election next month.

On Wednesday, 14 August, the Algiers Public Prosecutor announced the arrest of 21 individuals allegedly involved in a plot to smuggle firearms into Algeria through the port of Béjaïa, located in northeastern Algeria. The arrests were made on 4 August as part of an operation conducted by the Ministry of National Defence (MDN).

"This attempt was intended to create unrest and insecurity and to disrupt the smooth running of the Algerian presidential election scheduled for 7 September", stated the MDN in a press release.

Authorities claimed they had seized 46 firearms, ammunition, foreign currency, and GPS devices, smuggled into the country apparently from the port of France's Marseille. Additional weapons were found hidden in a clandestine weapons repair workshop near Béjaïa.

The Algerian authorities said the arrested were working with a "terrorist" network based in France and numerous dormant cells in Algeria.

The last major terrorist attack in Algeria occurred in 2013 when al-Qaeda-linked militants took some 800 expatriates hostage at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas, eastern Algeria. 

The military ministry's statement accused "hostile foreign intelligence services" and the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), a group seeking self-determination for the Amazigh Kabylia region, of being behind the plot.

Since 2021, the MAK has been classified as a terrorist organisation in Algeria, following claims that its members were involved in planting car bombs and collaborating with Morocco and Israel. The movement denies the accusations.

In July, Algeria severed diplomatic ties with France after Paris recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, over which the Algeria-backed Sahrawi Polisario Front also claims sovereignty.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accused of leading a crackdown on dissent since mass protests in 2019, is set to face only two challengers in the 7 September election.

This will be the first presidential race since Tebboune, the 78-year-old military-backed leader, assumed office in 2019 following a low-turnout election widely denounced as "rigged" by the opposition and protesters.

Tebboune moved the election date forward by three months in March without providing reasons. His move unsettled his strongest opponents and complicated the process of gathering signatures and endorsements, leading to the disqualification and withdrawal of 13 potential candidates.

During his first term, Tebboune, previously Bouteflika's Prime Minister, imposed a ban on protests and intensified punishments for activists, journalists, and bloggers, using a broad anti-terrorism decree that led to the imprisonment of over 200 people for merely criticising his administration.