The journalist Anwar Malik: Algeria's stance on Syria

The journalist Anwar Malik considered what happened to the Algerian Vice-Consul Tahar Touati, a great diplomatic failure. Malik described the execution of the young diplomat by the supporters of Tawhid and Jihad movement as a wilful crime condemned by humanity. He warned the Algerian government of the consequences of the enacted principles regarding ransom and handling of armed groups in the Sahel region. He also warned of Algeria’s rejection of foreign interference in its affairs to justify its negative stance from the Syrian crisis describing the principles as out dated. In an interview with Arabstoday, Malik said that the consulate represents the sovereignty of the state, and executing the diplomat Tahir Touati is a diplomatic failure despite releasing three diplomats who were detained by the movement of Tawhid and Jihad. Malik gave several examples of other countries that have saved the lives of their citizens who became hostages in exchange for large ransoms. In response to the handlings by the Algerian authorities regarding the rest of the detainees in Mali’s City Gao, Malek said: "I think that if Algeria continues like this, it will lead to the execution of others.” In the same context, he added: "Algeria has put itself in an embracing situation. The only consideration is to save the diplomats and this will be credited to the government. But the false pride and outdated principles of the era of bipolarity and the Cold War has mislead the country more and more which will make it absent from the global scene.” Malik added: "The government’s exaggerated confidence in dealing with the so-called Arab Spring according to the intelligence reports that have reached the President informing him that the situation is stable, might turn against the government, and it is the same case for Syria.” The Algerian free observer within the Arab League mission to Syria, said that the Syrian crisis is a real humanitarian tragedy. He described the mission of the new UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the region as impossible because of the conditions that surround the Syrian crisis that stems from the Security Council with a Russian veto. Malek believes that Brahimi's only chance is to directly request Bashar al-Assad to step down on if he wants to save his life and spare the country more disasters. The free observer believes that this will not happen at least in this stage and after Assad's recent statements. The free observer of the Arab League mission said that Algeria needs some time to rectify its negative stance towards the Syrian crisis which will go down in history for dealing with the tragic situation of the Syrian crisis.