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Recent Appearances...

Africa North

Two detained former prime ministers under Algeria’s longtime ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika were handed additional prison sentences for corruption

2021-09-28

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Two detained former prime ministers under #Algeria’s longtime ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika were handed additional prison sentences for corruption, according to local media.https://t.co/yzzYX2IdX2
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 28, 2021

Two detained former prime ministers under Algeria’s longtime ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika were handed additional prison sentences on Monday for corruption, local media reported.

Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal were sentenced to six and five years respectively for money laundering, wasting public money, abuse of office and “awarding contracts in violation of public procurement regulations,” according to the newspapers Ennahar, Echorouk and El Hayat.

The charges related to Hamid Melzi, the former boss of a state firm that runs a luxury residence for government officials as well as a publicly owned hotel company.

Melzi was sentenced to five years in prison, and also faces trial for industrial espionage and “harming the national economy.”

Ouyahia served four times as prime minister between 1995 and 2019, while Sellal led the government from 2014 to 2017 and managed all four of Bouteflika’s election campaigns.

Bouteflika resigned in 2019 under pressure from the army, following weeks of mass protests against his bid for a fifth term in office.

He died this month aged 84 and was quietly buried without the honors accorded to his predecessors.

Following his fall, prosecutors launched a series of enquiries into businessmen close to the veteran ruler, resulting in several serving prison time for graft.

Algeria ranks 104th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

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Africa North

Algeria Postpones Trial of Bouteflika's Brother

2021-09-27

[AnNahar] A court in the Algerian capital on Sunday postponed the corruption trial of the younger brother of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika

...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
, who died this month, local media reported.

Defense lawyer Miloud Brahimi requested the postponement, citing Said Bouteflika's "psychological condition" after the September 17 death of his brother.

Algerian media said the 63-year-old who served as presidential advisor appeared pale and weak at the court hearing.

The trial of Bouteflika and several co-defendants in the capital's Dar el-Beida suburb was delayed until October 10, but a defense request for their release on bail was turned down.

Said Bouteflika was detained in May 2019, a month after his brother quit office following mass protests against his bid for a fifth presidential term.

Said was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "plotting" against the army and the state, but a retrial in January cleared him of those charges.

He remains in jug on corruption charges, along with several other political and business leaders from the Bouteflika era.

The once-mighty presidential aide was long seen as the real power running the North African country after his brother suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

A court in the Algerian capital has postponed the corruption trial of the younger brother of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who died this month, according to local media reports.https://t.co/IkHtI6vCef
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 26, 2021

Link

-Obits-

Abdelkader Bensalah, who served briefly as interim president in 2019, has died

2021-09-23

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Veteran Algerian politician Abdelkader Bensalah, who served briefly as interim president after his mentor Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to resign in 2019, has died aged 79, the president’s office confirms.https://t.co/6EGoeBClFD
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) September 22, 2021

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Africa North

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who succeeded longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika in December, is asking for more time to implement ‘radical’ changes

2020-02-21

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who succeeded longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika in December, is asking for more time to implement “radical” changes, according to an interview with French daily Le Figaro.https://t.co/GB3Z2w7jEK
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) February 20, 2020

Link

Africa North

Islamic State claims Algeria border attack

2020-02-12

[Jpost] Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
said on Tuesday that it was behind Sunday's attack on an Algerian military barracks near the country's border with Mali that killed one soldier.
The Death Eater group sent the bomber in a vehicle rigged with explosives, but a sentry stopped him before he could enter the compound and the blast killed both men, according to a Defence Ministry statement. The group's Algerian leader is a 47-year-old Death Eater known as Abu Walid el-Sahrawi."The martyred brother Omar al-Ansari ... entered the base and went kaboom! his car against them," the group said in a statement.

Algeria, in common with other countries in the Sahel and Sahara regions, is growing increasingly concerned about the risk of Death Eater groups taking advantage of the escalating conflict in Libya and chaos in Mali to expand their presence.

In Mali, the government has said it is ready to talk with jihadist groups in the hope of ending an insurgency that has made swathes of the country ungovernable and stoked ethnic violence.

In Libya, chaos in parts of the country since the 2011 revolution has created space for Islamic State, which launched a cross-border attack against a Tunisian town in 2016, but which is now mostly active in Libya's south.

"We need to focus on both Libya and Mali," a former Algerian counter-terrorism officer told Rooters. "This attack could be a preparation for what might come if we don't contain the threats."

Algiers has been discussing how to stem the rising Death Eater threat in the Sahel with Mali in recent days, and has offered it some humanitarian assistance. It shares more than 1,500km of mostly remote, desert border with Mali and Libya.

Sunday's attack was the first in Algeria for several years. In 2013, an Islamist Death Eater group linked to al Qaeda staged an attack on the Tiguentourine gas processing facility in southern Algeria that killed dozens of people, including foreigners.

That was the deadliest spasm of Death Eater violence in Algeria since a 1990s civil war between Islamist groups and the state in which more than 200,000 people died.

Algeria is already wrestling with a major political crisis after a year of mass protests that helped oust the veteran president and have continued, with demonstrators now demanding the ruling elite be fully replaced.

The country also faces economic problems, with declining energy sales contributing to a fall in state revenue and planned cuts in public spending this year.

Link

Africa North

Algerian military court starts hearing an appeal against the 15-year jail term for the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika

2020-02-10

[TWITTER]

An Algerian military court starts hearing an appeal against the 15-year jail term for the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was brought down amid anti-regime protests last year.https://t.co/qTTVOwF4jG
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) February 9, 2020

Link

Africa North

Algerian army chief Gaed Salah dies amid national turmoil

2019-12-23

[Rooters via JPost] The funeral is expected to take place on Tuesday, a day on which students in the large North African country have been staging weekly protests for much of the year.

Algeria's powerful army chief, who masterminded the state's response to mass protests this year, died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday, and a likely successor quickly emerged from the same old guard the demonstrators want swept away.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah had become the most visible figure in Le Pouvoir - the "power," as Algerians describe their secretive ruling elite, helping to bring down long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April.

As military chief of staff, his strategy was to replace Bouteflika and his allies while keeping the essential structure of power unchanged and allowing the protests to continue, hoping to wait out the demonstrators.

Huge crowds continued to flood the streets through much of 2019 to demand wholesale change to the leadership, unappeased by Bouteflika's resignation and the arrest of many of his aides and allies on corruption charges.
The protest movement in the major oil- and gas-exporting country has no formal leaders or organization. But among its main demands throughout the weekly rallies has been that the army step away from its central political role since Algeria's 1962 independence from France, with marchers often chanting: "A civilian state, not a military state."

As the year wore on, protesters also increasingly called for Gaed Salah himself to resign, especially after he pushed hard for an election to replace Bouteflika that they regarded as illegitimate while the old guard still held sway.

Link

Africa North

Algerian prosecutor’s office is requesting 20-year prison sentences for several former politicians accused of corruption

2019-12-09

[TWITTER]

The Algerian prosecutor’s office is requesting 20-year prison sentences for several former politicians accused of corruption, including two prime ministers who served under ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, local media outlets report.https://t.co/O7cUFEPDAI
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) December 8, 2019

Link

Africa North

Five candidates to run in Algeria’s presidential election next month

2019-11-03

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Five candidates will run in Algeria’s presidential election next month, including two former prime ministers, the head of the election authority said on Saturday, amid mass protests rejecting the vote.

The authorities have repeatedly said the December 12 vote would be the only way to get out of a crisis Algeria been facing since the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika

...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
in April under pressure from protesters.

Candidates for the December 12 election include former prime ministers Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Ali Benflis, former culture minister Azzedddine Mihoubi, former tourism minister Abdelkader Bengrine, and Abdelaziz Belaid, head of the El Mostakbal Movement party.

They were announced by Mohammed Chorfi, head of the election authority.

Twenty-three candidates had applied to the election authority, but most failed to meet requirements which include collecting signatures from 25 of the country’s 48 provinces. Those who were rejected will be allowed to file appeals.

Tens of thousands of protesters have been staging weekly demonstrations to reject the election, saying it will not be fair as some of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s allies are still in power.

Link

Africa North

Algeria registers 22 candidates for presidential vote

2019-10-28

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Algeria’s election authority has registered 22 candidates for a December presidential election, including two former prime ministers under former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika

...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
, the official APS agency reported on Sunday.

Former premiers Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune had submitted their candidacies for the December 12 vote before the deadline for nominations passed on Saturday.

Both are considered front-runners in an election which however is opposed by the mass protest movement that alongside the army forced Bouteflika to resign in April

Activists are demanding sweeping reforms before any vote takes place, and say Bouteflika-era figures still in power must not use the presidential poll as an opportunity to appoint his successor.

Polls originally planned for July 4 were postponed due to a lack of viable candidates. Observers are predicting a weak turnout in December.

Benflis, 75, served as premier under Bouteflika from 2000 to 2003.

After his dismissal, Benflis ran as Bouteflika’s main opponent in 2004 and 2014, coming a distant second both times as the president was re-elected with over 80 percent of the vote.

Tebboune, 73, was a senior civil servant before serving as a minister from the 1990s.

After Bouteflika assumed the presidency in 1999, Tebboune was minister of communication, obtaining further portfolios in 2002.

Bouteflika appointed him prime minister in May 2017 before sacking him less than three months later against a backdrop of factional fighting in government.

Other Bouteflika-era stalwarts are also running, including Azzedine Mihoubi, leader of the Democratic National Rally party (RND) which was the main ally of the former president’s party, and Islamist former tourism minister Abdelkader Bengrina.

Link

Africa North

Algerian MP detained for money laundering

2019-10-19

[AFRICANEWS] Algerian member of parliament, Baha Eddine Tliba has been detained. The businessman was remanded in jug on Thursday over money laundering and secretly financing political parties.

According to the official APS news agency, Tliba is facing prosecution for illegally financing the electoral campaign of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika

...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
Baha Eddine Tliba, a member of the former president’s National Liberation Front
...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here...
party, had his parliamentary immunity lifted on September 25 at the request of the Justice Minister.

He is one of the last victims of an Algerian judicial hunt for powerful businessmen close to Bouteflika since his resignation in April.

Most of them are suspected of having taken advantage of their ties with the former president or his entourage to obtain benefits or public contracts.

Link

Africa North

Algiers police prevent weekly student demo for first time

2019-10-09

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Algerian police on Tuesday prevented a weekly protest by students in the capital for the first time since an anti-regime movement erupted into the streets in February, AFP journalists and witnesses said.

They forcefully barred access to a square in central Algiers and managed to disperse the demonstrators after several forays, making at least 14 arrests, an action group for the release of detainees said.

"Police brutality reached a level not seen since the start of the demonstrations, according to several students," El-Watan newspaper wrote on its website.

The prevention of the student march - a rally that takes place each Tuesday - follows a wave of arrests of journalists, activists and figures opposed to a December 12 presidential vote to replace longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika

...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out...
who resigned in April after mass protests.

Security forces have toughened their line against protests - including much larger rallies held each Friday, extending well beyond the student community - since the election date was confirmed in a mid-September announcement.

Protesters have been demanding political reforms and the removal of regime insiders - including Gaid Salah himself - before any vote.

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