Man named ‘the ghost’ takes over Algeria’s Intelligence services

Long-time confidante of Bouteflika and a convict in the very system that reared him, General Djamel Kehal Medjdoub, or the ghost, has risen to the top of Algeria’s Intelligence services signaling a revamping of the country’s military institutions.

Named as Director-General for Documentation and External Security (DGDSE), Medjdoub was appointed last week to succeed General Noureddine Makri in the agency that only keeps its leaders in office for an average of two years.

Jeune Afrique, in a profile detailing the career of Medjdoub, questioned whether he will be able to hold on to his position. “Those who know or have worked alongside him describe an efficient, loyal and rigorous man,” wrote the magazine.

“A man of delicate cases reputed to be calm,” he was a key member in the extradition of the former number 2 of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat(GSPC), from Chad to Algeria via Libya.

In 2004, Medjdoub was spotted by the former head of the intelligence services, General Mohamed Mediène who brought him into the Directorate of Security and Presidential Protection (DSPP).

There he served as ​​Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s “guardian angel,” for ten years until 2015.

“At the head of a battalion of 700 bodyguards, he watches day and night to the security of the former head of state inside and outside the country. Bonds of trust are forged between the two men,” wrote Jeune Afrique.

And then catastrophe hit.

In July 2015, two agents in charge of presidential security “negligently” fired shots at two incoming intruders, causing a general panic in the Presidential residence of Zeralda.

Bouteflika sacked Medjdoub for negligence. A military court sentenced him to three years in prison after a trial behind closed doors. He appealed against his conviction and ended up being cleared by a military appeal court.

He has since then kept a low profile until his ‘pardon’ and appointment as the chief of the North African country’s intelligence service.