territorial integrity

Algeria: Saïd Chengriha, the man who wants to battle with Morocco

By Adrien Depay

Premium badge Reserved for subscribers

Posted on July 4, 2023 09:54

jad20220418-mmo-algerie-armee-grandemuette-chengriha-1256×628-1687954173 © Major General Saïd Chengriha, Chief of Staff of the Algerian People’s National Army (ANP). Zinedine Zebar/Starface
Major General Saïd Chengriha, Chief of Staff of the Algerian People’s National Army (ANP). Zinedine Zebar/Starface

Chief of Staff of the Algerian army since the end of 2019, the 79-year-old Saïd Chengriha is, along with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, one of the two most powerful men in the country. Seen from Rabat, he is also much more political than he appears, a man who wants to bring Morocco to its knees.

A veteran of the two Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973, and an officer on the front line in the fight against the Islamist maquis in the 1990s, Chengriha, Algeria’s Chief of Staff since December 2019, has remained a soldier who cultivates his warrior image.

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime

More Politics

Algeria (L) and Morocco (R) are fighting over caftans, zelliges and the BRICS. (Photos by AFP)

he said, she said

Premium badgeAlgeria, Morocco and the blooper reel of discord There is no shortage of disputes between North African neighbours Algiers and Rabat, to the extent that the most trivial of issues can inflame tempers...
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio in Freetown, Sierra Leone, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen

Image makeover

Premium badgeSierra Leone: Bio taps Green Beret as security adviser amid US poll pushback President Bio’s government has hired Mercury Public Affairs and US Army veteran Jerry Torres to deepen diplomatic and military ties with the Joe Biden...
Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia hopes to ‘break the eight’. (AFP/Nipah Dennis)

CLIFF HANGER

Premium badgeGhana: Will the NPP prove Mahama wrong by sticking with Bawumia? Mahamudu Bawumia could make history as the first vice president to go two full terms with a president and then take over as Ghana’s head of state.
Fighters ride in a vehicle moving in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Sudan’s Darfur State during a stopover in the eastern city of Gedaref while on the way to Port Sudan on August 30, 2023.

massive influx

Premium badgeIn Sudan’s east, murky arms trade thrives as war rages More than four months into Sudan’s devastating war, arms dealers are struggling to keep up with demand for a trade that is booming, at a deadly cost.