Algerian anger at Bastille Day celebration particpation

Further illustration of what many people now believe is part of the price Algeria is having to pay for France’s support for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s fourth mandate surrounded Algeria’s participation in the 14 July Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.

Those not versed in the often-unfathomable complexities of Franco-Algerian relations might have viewed France’s invitation to Algeria to participate in this year’s Bastille Day celebrations as a timely gesture towards improving relations between the two countries.

However, as news leaked out that Bouteflika had accepted the invitation and that three Algerian military officers and the Algerian flag might be present at the Champs-Élysées celebrations, there were expressions of anger from both France’s far right and almost the entire Algerian political spectrum.

At the heart of the anger in Algeria are the established position of almost all political leaders and, above all, the veterans of Algeria’s War of Independence that Algeria would never accept such an invitation until France, the former colonial power, apologies for the crimes it committed in Algeria.

After many days of debate within the local media, with almost total opposition to any participation, Bouteflika’s decision to send an envoy, in the person of Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi, has united, albeit perhaps temporarily, almost all political parties and strands against Bouteflika. Particularly dangerous for the presidential circle, however, is that many of Bouteflika’s supporters have now come out against him. With his popularity already at an all-time low, one can only wonder what threats or promises the Elysée may have made him.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

FIS' Ali Benhadj criticises Bouteflika

 

 In the wake of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's latest hospitalisation in France, the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front's (FIS) deputy leader, Ali Benhadj, has said that Algeria is in a worse state today than when the president took office. Speaking in May exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, he called on the president to leave power. He emphasised that Bouteflika “took power of an ailing country and will leave it in an even worse state”.

 

Criticising Bouteflika's claims of development and achievement, the Islamist leader said: “What some people consider achievements are in fact projects that go back to the initial years of Algeria's independence. However, their execution has been delayed for more than 35 years.” He added that “some of these achievements were made thanks to suspicious deals that plundered huge sums of public money. Benhadj stressed that “one cannot praise material achievements [made] under tyranny; when people's hopes are being suppressed and their legitimate rights are being denied”.

 

Benhadj also said: “We must differentiate between the health of the president and that of any ordinary citizen. The president's health will have an impact on society at large and state institutions, which are known to be corrupt. The ailing state becomes even sicker when the president is ill, especially as the president holds broad powers.”

 

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

US accuses Algeria of hindering counter-terrorism

The US State Department's report on global terrorism, released earlier this month is being seen as a warning shot across the bows of the Algerian regime. The US Intelligence services are, as John Schindler's recent whistle-blowing article revealed well aware of how the DRS has created its own terrorists and that AQIM is very much a product of this practice.

In its latest report, however, the US State Department is saying that Algeria is an obstacle to efforts in combating terrorism in the region. This suggests that, at last, the US may be beginning to lose patience with the Algerian regime. The DRS' sponsorship of AQIM and other Islamists groups in Mali would seem to be the catalyst that has sparked the US State Department's response.

The report, not surprisingly, has been seized upon by Morocco. As Tajeddine El Houssaini, professor of international relations at Morocco's University Mohammed V-Agdal, said this week, the US State Department is accusing the regime of Abdelaziz Bouteflika over his role as an obstacle to efforts to eradicate extremist groups.

El Houssaini said there are many links between former members of the "Polisario" and terrorists operating in the Sahel and Sahara. Citing the US report, he linked Algeria's negative role in the fight against terrorism in the region with the lack of a final settlement of the Sahara issue. According to other sources at University Mohammed V, several studies have shown that there are many links between former members of the “Polisario” and terrorists operating in the Sahel and Sahara. According to these reports, which are supported by our own research in this field, there is cooperation between elements of the Polisario and 'terrorists' in both hostage-taking and drug smuggling.

Moroccan sources, we should stress, are careful not to publicly accuse the DRS of being the key agency linking Polisario with the AQIM 'terrorists', although we have increasing evidence of this and believe that the US State Department is also becoming increasingly aware of such relationships.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.
© 2012 Menas Associates

Belkhadem retains control of the FLN

Although possibly foreseeable with hindsight, this is a state of affairs that has been brought sharply into focus since last Saturday's (16 June) Special Meeting of the FLN, which saw the party's secretary-general and Abdelaziz Bouteflika's personal representative, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, turn the tables – at least for the time being - on his many enemies within the FLN.

He accomplished an extraordinary, but not wholly unexpected (as we ourselves sensed – 'Houdini' act at the meeting. For weeks, even months, there has been growing anticipation – for some, a certainty - that the growing fissure in the FLN between Belkhadem and the seemingly increasing number of young Turks would result in his overthrow as the party's boss at last week's special meeting. The numbers seemed stacked against him and yet, even as we went to press on Friday 15 June, there was a sense that Belkhadem had something up his sleeve and that his overthrow was not entirely certain.

The outcome was that he won a no-confidence vote by a show of hands. If there had been a secret ballot, the outcome would probably have been very different. But Belkhadem's insistence, as Secretary- General, on a show of hands, was the trademark of a wily old fox. He had Bouteflika's support and there were many who could not be seen to be voting against him. He has already moved with lightning speed to remove many of his main opponents from key party positions around the country.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates

Algeria: President Bouteflika meets his ministers

Since 2nd August, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has held individual meetings with ministers, a regular summer tradition in which officials essentially show off the progress of their projects. As usual, an official summary of the meetings is distributed to the local press. In the context of this year's social upheaval, it has been particularly important that the president demonstrates progress on social development, security and wider reform, and, as a result, the exercise has turned into a public relations drive. Some of the negative aspects of ministries' work, particularly those touched by corruption scandals, have been bypassed.

Bouteflika congratulated public works minister Amar Ghoul on the “great achievements” in his sector. “The progress made in the road, airport and ports infrastructure has contributed to the process of national development,” said Bouteflika. There was no mention of the corruption scandals, costing errors and delays that have hit some major projects in the sector, notably the east-west motorway scandal, which is still making its way through the courts.

Despite the publicity around the ministerial meetings, no images of Bouteflika with his ministers were published, prompting suggestions that he was too frail to be pictured.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Algeria: 'Le Grand Flop de Bouteflika'

Abdelkader Bensalah's committee, or commission as it is called, has wound up ignominiously after two months of insulting and belittling Algerians. One headline referred to it as 'Le Grand Flop de Bouteflika'; another: 'Bensalah's circus ends in indifference'.

Besides such external powers as the UK and US, and now it seems the EU itself, who are doing all that they can to prop up the Algerian regime, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's attempts at constitutional and political reform have so far achieved nothing other than confirming to the Algerian people that he had no intention of do anything more than 'wasting time', many of Algeria's own media headline writers have described the embarrassingly pitiful exercise.

The question is: where does it – Bouteflika's reform process – go from here? Bensalah will at some point make some sort of report back to the President who will no doubt make some sort of recommendation. But it will be surprising if many Algerians will be listening to him by then. What he has managed to achieve so far in this exercise is to insult and humiliate the Algerian by treating them with such contempt.

Most members of the opposition, as well as many senior members of the regime itself, are voiced comments to the effect that this has not been one of the President's most intelligent t moves and is one that is likely to come back and bite him – probably when the summer comes to an end.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Algeria: Opposition to boycott reform talks

Algerian opposition leaders have said that they will boycott the proposed start of the democratic reform talks that are set to begin on Saturday 21st May in protest at what they call a "feeble attempt at real change".

As we have reported in recent issues, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has asked a panel of recognised political parties and experts in constitutional law to come up with further proposals that would be submitted to parliament or a referendum. He initially tasked the Speaker of the Senate, Abdelkader Bensalah, to get the process started. However, given Bensalah's generally perceived lack of qualities, Bouteflika, as we reported last week, provided him with two old regime stalwarts in the personages of the architect of the 1992 coup d'état, General Mohamed Touati, and a former minister Mohamed Ali Boughazi.

Opponents of the regime regard the appointment of this trio as merely an attempt by Bouteflika to keep his hold on power.

"We wait for concrete action towards change in order to reestablish trust in power and the state, not just fiddling around," said Karim Tabbou, secretary of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) which will boycott the talks.

Said Sadi, leader of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) said that the government-initiated talks were simply a " monologue against change ." "The era of political tinkering is over," he added.

An El-Watan editorial said that the government "will find itself consulting itself.” It went on to say that the president's proposals are aimed at supporting a system which "wants to keep things in hand while making it appear it is reforming, which it is not."

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Algeria: Belkhadem's 'dinosaur' views on constitutional reform

State Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who is secretary general of the National Liberation Front ( FLN) and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's special envoy, has come to represent the most 'out of touch' or 'dinosaur' thinking within the regime. From a number of interviews this week we can get a fairly clear line on his thinking. In a statement which could be interpreted as patronising or simply 'out of touch', he said that the political initiatives of the opposition, which he did not specify, civil society organisations, which also went unnamed, and political figures, whom he didn't mention, “show healthy political practice and pluralism in Algeria”. It seems that he is saying that all the discussion about politics in Algeria is indicative of the fact that it is in a state of good health. In short, it doesn't need changing.

Coming on the current discussion about political and constitutional change, Belkhadem was quoted as saying that the FLN , is against the idea of the dissolution of the parliament and early general elections. One fairly obvious reason for that, which Belkhadem didn't mention, is that the FLN would have a good chance of being sent to electoral oblivion.

In a clear reflection of his essentially anti-democratic views, he was also quoted as saying that he rejected establishing a constitutional council that would gather representatives of political forces in the country. He tried to clarify this statement by saying that such proposals would deny all the achievements made since the independence in 1962. It is, of course, very difficult to pin-point just what achievements the country has made since 1962.

Given its huge natural wealth, for which the government cannot really take credit, many would argue that the regime has turned Algeria into the region's most misgoverned, corrupt and repressive country. And yet, almost in the next phrase, Belkhadem said that "we endorse the proposal of proceeding to a radical revision to the constitution." The key word is 'radical'.

It seems that Belkhadem's and the FLN 's understanding of 'radical' is not what most people would have in mind.

If, however, there was any hint in any of the above statements that Belkhadem might see some urgency in the need to act on Algeria's current political situation, it was clearly ruled out in an interview he gave last Monday to the Arabic daily Wakt El Djazair when he said that constitutional reform could be looked at after the legislation and local elections of 2012. Some might think that that could be a little too late!

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Algerians flee Libya

According to Algerian government sources, nearly 8,000 Algerian were living in Libya. Since 20th February, at least 4,000 Algerians, probably more, have returned home, the vast majority on Air Algérie flights. Some 1,400 people were reported as having crossed back into Algeria at the Debdeb border crossing, just south of Tunisia.

This number could, in fact, be much higher and include nationalities other than just Algerians. The Debdeb area has been turned into something of a temporary crisis zone, with assistance being provided by the Algerian army, gendarmerie, Civil Protection Force, Algerian Red Crescent, and the medical service of Sonatrach.

The latest figure, released by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 11th March, was that 5,400 people had fled from Libya into Algeria. This figure includes both Algerians and non-Algerians. The United Nations puts the total number of people who have fled since mid-February as over 250,000.

On 26th February, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ordered the despatch from Algiers of a large ferry, the Tassili II, to collect Algerians from Tripoli and Benghazi. The ship took with it a delegation from the Foreign Ministry, a medical team, police officers, and journalists. It returned to Algiers carrying 1,300 people including American, Moroccan, and Tunisian nationals as well as Algerians.

Sonatrach announced that it had repatriated all its employees working in Libya. It said that it had 80 employees working with SIPEX, whose Libyan operations cover two exploration blocks in the Ghadames basin, close to the Algerian border. Although Sonatrach said that there had been no damage to any of its facilities, there have been reports that its bases in Libya have been subjected to substantial looting.

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Algeria lifts 19 year long state of emergency

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has signed an order lifting the 19 year long state of emergency as a concession to the opposition, and a means to prevent the demonstrations spiralling further out of control.

Experts say that the government's decision might prevent the protests from gaining momentum, and eventually leading to Bouteflika's resignation. Ending the emergency powers was one of the demands made by opposition groups responsible for staging weekly protests in Algiers.

Originally, the state of emergency was imposed in order to help authorities' combat Islamist militants but, in the past few years, since militant activity has subsided, the Algerian government has been using the measure to suppress democratic freedoms.

US President Barack Obama has commended the Algerian government for lifting the measure, saying it was a positive sign that the government was taking heed of people's demands. He added that the US was hoping Algeria would also take other steps to allow the people greater freedoms.

Sources: Reuters, Voice of America, The Washington Post

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security .