US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS1539

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001539 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, AG, IZ 
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN REACTION TO KIDNAPPING OF ALGERIAN 
DIPLOMATS IN IRAQ 
 
REF: A. FBIS GMP20050723532002 
     B. ALGIERS 1538 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: CDA MARC J. SIEVERS, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) (d). 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
-------------------- 
 
1.  (U) Algerian political parties, including the moderate 
Islamist MSP party represented in Parliament, joined the 
government in condemning the July 21 kidnapping of two 
Algerian diplomats in Baghdad.  An MFA source, speaking on 
background to the media, said the kidnapping "brought about 
enormous bewilderment and many questions as to the identity 
of the kidnappers and what caused them to commit such an 
act."  Prime Minister Ouyahia urged the country's politicians 
to be supportive of the government's efforts to obtain the 
release of the two diplomats.  The MFA Director of 
Communications, in the most detailed statement on how the 
kidnapping occurred, told the press that an Algerian attache 
driving past the scene witnessed gunmen jumping out of two 
cars and snatching both diplomats from their vehicle. 
 
2.  (C) Two press commentaries summed up two different 
currents of Algerian thinking on the kidnappers' motives. 
Mahmoud Belhimeur in El-Khabar thought the abductors sought 
to make a statement against what he (inaccurately) described 
as Algeria's refusal to support the Coalition's occupation of 
Iraq.  Meanwhile, Mounir Boudjema in Le Quotidien d'Oran 
named Saddam Hussein loyalists and Zarqawi's organization as 
the most likely culprits.  In our view, the GOA publicly is 
walking a fine line in trying to win the release of its 
diplomats without bringing unwelcome public attention to the 
GOA's low-key support for the Iraqi government and Iraq's 
transition to democracy.  (End summary and comment.) 
 
MFA:  CONDEMNABLE ACT AND SOURCE OF BEWILDERMENT 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
3.  (U) An MFA source who briefed the Algerian press on 
background the day after the July 21 kidnapping of Algeria's 
chief of mission in Baghdad, Ali Belaroussi, and another 
diplomat, Azzedine Belkadi, was widely quoted in Algerian 
media as saying:  "Our solidarity with Arab causes is 
unconditional and, in this particular case, with the 
brotherly people of Iraq, has never raised a shadow of doubt. 
 It is the official position of our country.  It is also that 
of the entire Algerian people who feel, deep inside, 
everything that the Iraqi people feel today.  The kidnapping 
of our two diplomats, however incomprehensible and 
unjustifiable, is no less condemnable. 
 
4.  (U) "The Algerian political movements (the MFA source 
continued) reacted yesterday by vigorously condemning the 
kidnapping all the while calling on all forces to unite 
around the Algerian state so that it can do the work that it 
has to do to safeguard the lives of these two citizens.  By 
all evidence, our two kidnapped diplomats never expected to 
be the object of any kidnapping, given their status, their 
behavior, as well as the Algerian position on the tragedy 
experienced by the Iraqi people.  Therefore, Thursday's 
kidnapping brought about enormous bewilderment and many 
questions as to the identity of the kidnappers and what 
caused them to commit such an act.  We hope with all our 
heart that reason will triumph and that our two citizens will 
soon come back safe and sound." 
 
PRIME MINISTER ASKS POLITICIANS TO SUPPORT THE GOA 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
5.  (U) Alongside Department Deputy Spokesman Ereli's 
condemnation of the kidnapping and a French statement of 
"great concern," Algeria's major political parties issued 
their own condemnations.  Most notable was that of the 
Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP), a moderate Islamist 
party, which "exhorts sincere men inside and outside of Iraq 
to denounce such behavior and to contribute to the liberation 
of the kidnapped diplomats as soon as possible."  Prime 
Minister Ouyahia, the highest-ranking government official to 
issue a statement, urged the country's politicians to be 
supportive of the authorities' efforts to obtain the release 
of the two diplomats by not speculating openly or making 
statements about the kidnapping. 
 
KIDNAPPING AS WITNESSED BY AN ALGERIAN DIPLOMAT 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
6.  (U) MFA Director of Communications Abdelhamid Chebchoub 
provided to the press the most details about the kidnapping 
and the circumstances surrounding it.  Noting Algeria had not 
yet received any claim of responsibility (Note:  Zarqawi's 
organization in Iraq has since claimed responsibility. (See 
Ref A.)), Chebchoub said the two diplomats had just left the 
Algerian Embassy in Baghdad and were on their way to lunch 
when their car was intercepted, approximately 60 meters from 
the Embassy.  An Embassy attache, who saw the scene unfold 
behind him after passing his colleagues' car, said gunmen 
jumped out of two cars and snatched both diplomats from their 
vehicle.  In response to the kidnapping, Chebchoub said the 
MFA had established a crisis monitoring unit. 
 
PRESSURING ALGERIA TO SUPPORT THE COALITION... 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
7.  (U) Two press commentaries, one by Mahmoud Belhimeur in 
the Arabic-language daily El-Khabar, and another by Mounir 
Boudjema in the French-language daily Le Quotidien d'Oran, 
laid out two conflicting Algerian perspectives on the 
kidnapping.  Belhimeur claimed one of the kidnapped diplomats 
had told his relatives that he did not need to carry a 
firearm, since no one, including the Iraqi "resistance," 
would consider him a target.  Inaccurately claiming that the 
GOA had refused to participate in any way in supporting the 
U.S. Coalition's efforts in Iraq, Belhimeur opined that 
targeting Algerian diplomats was one way of pressuring 
Algeria to change its stance and begin cooperating with the 
Coalition.  Maybe the abductors, he continued, targeted 
Algeria to make a statement against Algeria's refusal to 
support the "occupation."  What is certain, wrote the author, 
is that some would like to push Algeria to adopt a different 
stance on Iraq. 
 
...VERSUS ZARQAWI'S CHALLENGE TO ARABS AND THE COALITION 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
8.  (U) Mounir Boudjema wrote in Le Quotidien d'Oran of two 
lines of inquiry in identifying the perpetrators.  Either 
loyalists of Saddam Hussein and former elements of his 
security services could be responsible, or Zarqawi could have 
ordered the kidnapping in retaliation for Algeria's having 
given credibility to the Iraqi transitional government by 
giving into U.S. diplomatic pressure that Arab countries post 
ambassadors in Baghdad.  Whatever the motive of the 
kidnapping, Boudjema concluded that Algeria was confronted 
with the thorny and risky prospect of being further drawn 
into an issue that the GOA had painstakingly sought to avoid. 
 
 
SIEVERS