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Algeria's parliament has chosen opposition leader Slimane Chenine to replace Moad Bouchareb of the ruling National Liberation Front to become the new speaker of parliament, TSA reported July 11.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...iament-speaker
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Algeria's Civil Forum for Change has proposed 13 individuals to speak on behalf of the country's opposition in mediation and discussion efforts with the interim government and military, TSA reported July 17.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-talks-interim
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Algeria's opposition is finding just how far it can push "le pouvoir" (the power) that calls the country's shots. This week, the interim government and army chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah rejected the preconditions from a six-member opposition panel as part of a dialogue process to chart Algiers' path toward elections and beyond — namely, the release of prisoners of conscience and the lifting of extra security measures around the capital. On Aug. 1, the panel, which is headed by a former president of Parliament's lower house, Karim Younes, huddled to take stock of the government's attitude and decide how to move forward. Expressing their disappointment at the authorities' refusal to negotiate, two prominent members of the panel resigned (Younes would have joined them, but his colleagues in the delegation persuaded him to stay), although the body did invite new members to join it.
In part to help deflect popular anger from the government (and, in all likelihood, to help sideline potential establishment opponents to Gaid Salah's preferred agenda), anti-corruption trials against loyalists of former President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika have continued. This week, interim President Abdelkader Bensalah replaced the heads of two important public banks because their former leaders had become the subject of graft probes. Also on Aug. 1, Bensalah fired Justice Minister Slimane Brahmi, replacing him with Algiers' public prosecutor, Belkacem Zeghmati. The new appointee could represent a pragmatic choice by the government, because he is known to oppose Bouteflika's loyalists, but the shuffle is indicative of the type of government decisions that have spurred popular anger. The interim government doesn't technically have the constitutional power to reshape the government.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...-its-foot-down
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Algerian interim President Abdelkader Bensalah has announced presidential elections for Dec. 12, France24 reported Sept. 15.
However, Algeria's opposition is rejecting a brief timeline for new elections due to fears that the transitional period would be too short to establish a proper dialogue between the government and the opposition.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ections-dec-12
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An Algerian military tribunal has sentenced three officials and one opposition party leader from the era of ousted President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika to 15 years on charges that they undermined the army and conspired against the state, TSA Algerie reported Sept. 25. The tribunal also sentenced former Defense Minister Khaled Nezzar and two others to 20 years in prison in absentia.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...y-prison-terms
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Two former Algerian prime ministers were convicted of corruption-related charges and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in a landmark trial.
An Algerian court pronounced the verdicts on Tuesday against Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, handing Ouyahia 15 years in prison and $16,000 in fines. Sellal was sentenced to 12 years in prison and given $8,000 in fines.
The trial was the first resulting from sweeping investigations into fraud allegations launched after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down in April in the face of mass protests that erupted in February against his bid for a fifth term.
Both former prime ministers were longtime Bouteflika allies.
Noufal Abboud, executive director of the Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation, told Al Jazeera it was the first time any prime minister had been tried since independence from France in 1962.
"What is important to mention also is that these trials are selective and the enforcement is also selective. This comes in time when elections have already started outside Algeria among the Algerians overseas," said Abboud.
"And it is in the context in which the protests continue for over 40 weeks."
Some protesters outside the court shouted "Gang of gangsters!" and many waved or wore Algerian flags. Police surrounded the court because demonstrators were trying to get into the building see the trial in person.
Unusually, the trial was televised as authorities sought to show the public they are taking protesters' concerns about corruption seriously.
The former leaders were accused of abusing authority in a car manufacturing embezzlement scandal.
"It's a historic trial," law professor Rachid Lerari said. "Future leaders will think twice before using public money [for personal gain again]."
Protesters pushed out Bouteflika earlier this year in part because of anger at corruption.
Tuesday's sentences marked the second verdict since September, when a military court handed long prison terms to the once-untouchable intelligence chief and youngest brother of the former president.
The court in Algiers also handed 10-year prison terms to two former industry ministers, and sentences ranging from three to seven years to five prominent businessmen.
Many former senior officials have been in detention as the army seeks to quell mass protests over corruption and demands to remove those guilty in the ruling elite.
In all, 19 defendants - two former prime ministers, other prominent former politicians and car industry tycoons - face charges ranging from money laundering to abuse of office and granting undue privileges.
More at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/...100704598.html
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Algerian demonstrators on Friday rejected a call for dialogue by the country's new president, insisting on a month-long protest movement's demands for sweeping reforms in the North African country.Huge crowds flooded the streets of Algiers on the 44th consecutive Friday of anti-government protests, a day after establishment insider Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in following his victory in last week's presidential election.
"It's you or us. We will never stop," protesters chanted.
"I don't accept this president... and I am against the dialogue the ruling establishment is offering," said Amar Alileche, a 66-year-old pensionwhatsoeverer protesting against Tebboune.
"Negotiations must lead to the departure of the old regime," he said.
Tebboune, 74, succeeds president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who resigned in April in the face of huge demonstrations after two decades in office.
A former prime minister who served under Bouteflika, Tebboune is seen as close to armed forces chief, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, reviled by protesters and the de facto strongman since Bouteflika quit.
Following his election, Tebboune invited the Hirak protest movement to engage in dialogue as well as vowing to appoint young ministers and push for a new constitution.
But his comments were rejected by the protest movement.
He renewed his offer "to reach out to everyone" during his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday.
He also said that a new constitution would reduce the authority of the president and "guarantee the separation and balance of powers".
But protesters are demanding deep reforms they say should be carried out by "transitional institutions" with no ties whatsoever to member of the former political establishment.
More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/algerians...174521904.html
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Ahmed Gaid Salah, chief of staff of the Algerian People's National Army, has died of a heart attack, the Algeria Press Service reported Dec. 23.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-media-reports
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Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday named a university professor and former diplomat as prime minister as he builds a new government to handle political unrest and a looming economic challenge.
Abdelaziz Djerad, 65, served in the administration of a previous president in the 1990s, but was sidelined by president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was ousted in April after two decades as head of state.
The massive street protest movement that prompted Bouteflika to step down regarded Tebboune's election this month as illegitimate and it seems unlikely to accept any government he appoints.
The protesters rejected any election that took place while the military stayed involved in politics and Bouteflika-era figures retained powerful positions.
More at: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world...ter/ar-BBYqjvl
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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune pardoned more than 3,000 prisoners on Tuesday as he seeks to win support after months of political turmoil.Prisoners who are serving sentences less than six months were pardoned.
Tebboune, elected in December in a vote opposed by a huge protest movement seeking the replacement of the entire ruling elite, has said his top priority is to restore confidence.
Thousands of people are still protesting every Friday, but the numbers appear to have waned since Tebboune's election and his offer of talks with the opposition.
Last month he also ordered the release of dozens of people who had been detained for taking part in the protests.
He has also promised a process to offer constitutional amendments to the public through a referendum in order to give parliament a bigger role and increase political freedoms.
More at: https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other...ers/ar-BBZEiqi
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Algeria will crack down on tax and customs evasion, scrap plans for external borrowing and cut food imports as the protest-wracked OPEC member rushes to contain the effects of the oil-price collapse on its budget.
The instructions by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to his government come at a sensitive time for the North African nation that relies heavily on energy sales to Europe. Authorities are already confronting a yearlong peaceful protest movement demanding the dismantling of an army-backed elite that’s ruled since independence almost six decades ago.
“The state has sufficient means” to cover imports until the end of 2021, but those shipments need to be “smartly managed” to ensure they continue, Tebboune was quoted by the state news agency APS as saying, following a meeting late Tuesday.
Algeria, where oil and gas makes up more than 85% of exports, had based its budget for the current year on $50 per barrel of crude. That was before this month’s oil-price war erupted between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Tebboune ordered the Agriculture Ministry to boost local production and slash food and livestock feed imports, including corn and red meat, by half. No time-frame was fixed for the move.
The president, who was elected in December as the successor to veteran ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika, also called for the establishment of more private banks. He said a recently floated idea of borrowing from abroad would now be shelved and that printing more money isn’t an option.
More at: https://news.yahoo.com/oil-lifeline-...125649866.html