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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]

Related:
Said Bouteflika: 2019-08-07 Algeria: court issues arrest warrant on Khaled Nezzar, ex-General accused of alleged mass killings in the 1990s
Said Bouteflika: 2019-05-05 Bouteflika's brother, intelligence chiefs arrested
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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]
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Africa North
Algerian prosecutor’s office is requesting 20-year prison sentences for several former politicians accused of corruption
2019-12-09
[TWITTER]
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Africa North
Opposition cries foul as Bouteflika claims fourth term
2014-04-19
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ageing independence veteran already in power for 15 years, won re-election on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power.

Drooling Sitting in a wheelchair, Bouteflika had cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that raised doubts about whether he is fit enough to govern the state.
"Nurse! He's doing that again!"
Preliminary official results showed Bouteflika had won with 81.53 per cent of the vote, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz told a news conference. His nearest rival, Ali Benflis, won 12.18 percent, and national turnout was 51.7 per cent.

Bouteflika, 77, was already widely expected to win with the backing of the powerful ruling Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party, which has dominated the political system since independence from France in 1962. Western governments have been allied with Bouteflika in their campaign against militants in the Maghreb and are keen to secure Algerian gas shipments to Europe especially with Ukraine’s crisis threatening Russian supplies.

Bouteflika did not campaign himself, but loyalists praise him for guiding Algeria out of a 1990s war with Islamists that killed 200,000 people. The conflict left many Algerians wary of the turmoil that has swept neighbouring Tunisia, Egypt and Libya since their “Arab Spring” revolts in 2011. Six opposition parties boycotted Thursday’s vote, saying it would not reform a system mostly closed to change since the FLN’s one-party rule in the early post-independence years.
Just made it easier for him to win...
Bouteflika won 90 per cent of the vote in 2009 and 85 per cent in 2004, when his main rival then, Benflis, alleged fraud on an “industrial” scale. Many Algerians say ageing FLN leaders, business magnates and army generals — known as “Le Pouvoir” or “The Power”, in French — have long managed politics in behind-the-scenes negotiations and see themselves as guardians of stability.
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Africa North
Bouteflika Nominated for 4th Term
2013-11-17
[An Nahar] Algeria's 76-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term, who will probably die in office of old age...
 was on Saturday designated his party's candidate in the 2014 presidential election, despite having been largely unseen for months because of health woes.

Bouteflika, in power since 1999, returned home in July after nearly three months in La Belle France recovering from a mini-stroke, and presided over a cabinet meeting on September 29 for the first time this year.

Saturday's announcement was made by Bouteflika's National Liberation Front (FLN), which has 208 seats in the 462-seat national assembly.

"The central committee has chosen the president of the party, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to be the FLN candidate in the next presidential election," said a party statement issued after a meeting in the capital.

"The choice was a natural one given the positive assessment" of his three terms as Algerian head of state, FLN head Ammar Saidani said in a speech at Saturday's meeting.

Bouteflika has not himself spoken of being a candidate in 2014.

A limit on the number of consecutive presidential terms was removed by a constitutional amendment in November 2008, allowing Bouteflika to stand for a third term in office.

On Saturday, Saidani insisted that the FLN decision to propose Bouteflika as its candidate in next year's election was constitutional.

"The former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times, and he was in a wheelchair," he said.

"Mr Bouteflika's period of convalescence, which is coming to an end, does not legally prevent our president from seeking a fourth term in office," Saidani said.

Several members of the FLN central committee boycotted Saturday's meeting.

They called it illegal because of Saidani's controversial election as chief at an August meeting in which only some 273 out of 340 members of the central committee were present.

Saidani said 288 members of the central committee attended Saturday's meeting.

The gathering also urged Bouteflika to speedily revise the constitution to consolidate reforms announced in April 2011 to head off any spillover of Arab Spring violence.

Those reforms were seen by the opposition as timid at best.

One of the few remaining veterans of the war of independence against La Belle France, Bouteflika came to power after helping to end the country's civil war in the 1990s.

But in addition to health concerns in recent years, his rule has been dogged by corruption scandals implicating members of his inner circle.

The army of the North African country has chosen all of Algeria's post-independence leaders, and Bouteflika was no different.

With its support, he was elected in 1999 as the ruling FLN's candidate -- and as the sole contestant -- after the other six withdrew, charging that the poll would be fraudulent.

A dapper figure known for wearing a three-piece suit and tie even in the oppressive Saharan heat, Bouteflika is seen by many Algerians as a father figure who helped end the murderous civil war that killed at least 150,000 people from 1992.

The FLN has been in open crisis since parliamentary elections in May last year, and the internal turmoil worsened when Abdelaziz Belkhadem was ousted as party chief in February.
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Europe
Hollande: no apology for Algerian past
2012-12-21
President Francois Hollande refused to apologize for France's colonial past in Algeria, saying instead that Paris wanted to move forward on an equal footing and boost trade with the north African nation. Speaking on his first state visit since his election in May, Hollande said the two had agreed on a friendship declaration and a five-year strategic pact over economic, cultural, agricultural and defense ties.

After meeting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Hollande told a news conference, "I want to define with Algeria a strategic partnership on an equal-to-equal basis. I am not here to repent or apologize, I am here to tell the truth."
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Africa North
Algeria/ opposition: some 200 protesters in downtown Algiers
2011-02-20
[Ennahar] Chanting "free and democratic Algeria", "the people want the fall of the regime," some 200 people on Saturday braved heavy police deployment in central Algiers to protest, according to a journalists from the AFP.

Like last Saturday when a march to the call of the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (NCCD) was blocked, buses with coppers in helmets, armed with batons and shields, and armored vehicles took up positions in several locations in central Algiers.

All roads leading to the May 1 Square were blocked and arranged metal barriers on the site itself prevented the arrival of demonstrators.

Many of them, red cards in hand, were stuck in the street adjacent Belouizdad trying in vain to force the security cordon set up by the police for several hours.

On the square itself, a protester sexagenarian fainted and was quickly evacuated by firefighters, according to an AFP correspondent.

The police were stationed at almost every meter, a device similar to that expected last week as demonstrators had responded to the call of the NCCD.

The protesters were expected to walk from 11.00 am (10:00 GMT) a distance defined to the Martyrs' Square, about four miles away.

"It is expected that many Algerians join the march to tell the system they have a right to march in their capital," said shortly before the AFP Moumene Khalil, a member of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), member of the NCCD, without wishing to advance on attendance figures.

Fodil Boumal, a founder of the Coordination, lashed out again the authorities.

"We need a definitive break with this regime embodied since 1999 by the authority itself composed of military and civilian forces, including President Abdelaziz Bouteflika," he told AFP.

"The government must leave in its two terms: military and civilian, which is the most corrupt," he said, indicating that the march of "today represents the continuity of action on February 12. It includes the same objectives: to act between Algerians of all persuasions to end this regime."

The coalition of parties, civil society members and independent trade unions was established on January 21 in the wake of deadly riots earlier this year in Algeria that killed 5 people and injured over 800.
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Africa North
Bouteflika to announce the lifting of emergency rule on Thursday
2011-02-19
[Ennahar] According to corroborating sources, President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, will announce officially next Thursday, the lifting of emergency rule in Algeria.

The same sources which reported the information to Ennahar, added that the decision to lift state of emergency after 19 years will be announced at a cabinet meeting scheduled for next Thursday, to be chaired by the President of the Republic.

Measures have been taken, concerning the fight against terrorism after the lifting of emergency rule. These measures include the intervention of security services.

President Bouteflika, at that meeting, will sign an ordinance that will define the conditions and areas of intervention for security services.

The presidential Order will provide security services the right to immediate intervention in other exceptional cases, the fight against terrorism, corruption and organized crime.

The state of emergency was declared under a Presidential Decree number 4492 of February 9, 1992, signed by the late president Mohamed Boudiaf as extraordinary security measures after the first terrorist attacks.
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Africa North
Algeria set for weekly protests
2011-02-14
[Al Jazeera] Algerian opposition groups have said they will follow up the protests held this weekend by calling a demonstration in Algiers, the capital, every Saturday until the government is changed.

"We will continue to march until the regime steps down. Each Saturday we will maintain the pressure," said Mohsen Belabes, a front man for the RCD opposition party which helped organised the demonstrations.

Elias Filali, an Algerian blogger and activist, quoted Ali Yahia Abdennour, a senior figure and human right activist, as saying: "We should continue protesting every Saturday in the same square, we will gather momentum as we progress we want our dignity back.

"Yesterday the police has brutally beaten many protesters amongst them a pregnant women, old ladies, a journalist, young men and women, we should carry on protesting until we get our rights."

The call came as hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police on Sunday in the eastern city of Annaba.

Four coppers were slightly injured during festivities with young protesters outside the local government headquarters.

Several thousands protesters, inspired by revolts which overthrew entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, defied a police ban and protested in Algiers on Saturday.

Widespread discontent with unemployment, poor housing conditions and high food prices sparked rioting in early January across the country.

Local media reported that Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president, is preparing to make wholesale changes in his government line-up, a move which could relieve some of the pressure on his administration.

"What happened in Tunisia and Egypt is not likely to happen here," said Nacer Jabi, an Algerian sociologist, as he watched the protest on Saturday.

"This march shows ... that the [political] parties are unable to mobilise the crowds."

Flammable mix
The resignation on Friday of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president, and last month's overthrow of Tunisia's leader, have led many to ask which country could be next in the Arab world, with its flammable mix of authoritarian rule and popular anger.

Widespread unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy because it is a major oil and gas exporter, but many analysts say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely as the government can use its energy wealth to placate most grievances.

The government has said it refused permission for Saturday's rally for public order reasons, not because it is trying to stifle dissent.

It has said it is working hard to create jobs, build new homes and improve public services.
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Africa North
Police detain 400 protesters in Algeria
2011-02-13
[Arab News] Thousands of Algerians defied a government ban on protests and a massive deployment of riot police to rally in the capital Saturday, demanding democratic reforms a day after similar protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader.

Heavily armed police tried to seal off the city of Algiers, blocking streets, lining up along the march route and setting up barricades outside the city to try to stop busloads of demonstrators from reaching the capital.

But despite the heavy security, thousands flooded into downtown Algiers, clashing with police who reportedly outnumbered them at least three-to-one. A human rights
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
 activist said more than 400 people were nabbed.
"Into t'Paddy Wagon wit' yez!"
Tensions have been high in this sprawling North African nation of 35 million since five days of riots in early January over high food prices. Despite its vast gas reserves, Algeria has long been beset by widespread poverty and high unemployment, and some have predicted it could be next Arab country hit by the popular protests that have already ousted two longtime Arab leaders in a month.

Protesters chanted "No to the police state!" and "Bouteflika out!" -- a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has led the nation since 1999.

The heavy police presence and barricades turned Saturday's 3-mile (5-kilometer) march into a rally at the First of May square.

Ali Yahia Abdenour, head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said women and foreign journalists were among those jugged Saturday. Abdenour, 83, was also jostled by security forces who surrounded him and tried to persuade him to go home.

Under Algeria's nearly two-decades-long state of emergency, protests are banned in the capital, but many ignored repeated government warnings to stay away. One activist called Saturday's protest a key turning point.

"This demonstration is a success because it's been 10 years that people haven't been able to march in Algiers and there's a sort of psychological barrier," said Ali Rachedi, the former head of the Front of Socialist Forces party. "The fear is gone." Organizers said an estimated 28,000 security forces were on hand for the protest, which they said drew about 10,000 participants. Officials put the protest turnout at around 1,500.

Said Sadi, head of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy, RCD, said the scale of the police deployment showed "the fear of this government, which is in dire straits." "We're going to continue to demonstrate and to defy the authorities until they fall," Sadi vowed.

Saturday's protest came just a day after an uprising in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power and a month after another "people's revolution" in neighboring Tunisia forced autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile on Jan. 14.

The success of those uprisings is fueling activists' hope for change in Algeria, although many in this conflict-scarred nation fear any prospect of violence after living through a brutal Islamist insurgency in the 1990s that left an estimated 200,000 people dead.
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Africa North
Algeria moves to stave off unrest
2011-02-12
[Al Jazeera] Thousands of police are reportedly being drafted into the Algerian capital ahead of planned pro-democracy marches, opposition groups have said.

Said Sadi, the head of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), said authorities were moving to prevent Saturday's protests in Algiers from taking place.

"Trains have been stopped and other public transport will be as well," he told the AFP news agency.

According to Sadi, around 10,000 coppers were coming into reinforce the 20,000 that blocked the last protest staged on January 22, when five people were killed and more than 800 hurt in festivities.

Attempts to appease
The latest rally is being organised by the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a three-week-old umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions inspired by the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

Demonstrators in the oil-rich nation have been protesting over the last few months against unemployment, high food costs, poor housing and corruption - similar issues that fuelled the uprisings in other north African nations.

At least 12 people have set fire to themselves in protest against the government since January, four of those dying.

Earlier this month, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president, said he would lift emergency powers, address unemployment and allow democratic marches to take place in the country, in a bid to stave off unrest.

However,
The infamous However...
 protests in Algiers remain banned.

Financial support
Bouteflika's attempt to appease protesters is just one of many undertaken by Arab governments concerned about spreading unrest in the region.

In Bahrain, the king offered each family $2,650 on Friday.

The small oil producer is considered the most vulnerable of the Gulf Arab countries to unrest, although seen as unlikely to fall in the same way as Tunisia and Egypt.

The Bahraini government has made several concessions in recent weeks, such as higher social spending and offering to release some minors nabbed during a security crackdown against Shia groups last August.

The official Bahrain news agency released a report saying: "To praise the tenth anniversary of the National Action Charter and in recognition of the people of Bahrain.... His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ... will provide the amount of one thousand dinars for each family of Bahrain after adopting necessary legal procedures."

Activists have called for protests on February 14, the tenth anniversary of Bahrain's constitution, but it is not yet clear how widespread they will be.
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Africa North
Algerians say they want change but not chaos
2011-02-11
[Asharq al-Aswat] Many Algerians believe their country needs new people at the helm to restore hope and create jobs, but change must be smooth because after years of Islamist strife in which 200,000 died they cannot face more turmoil.

Algerians have watched with fascination the revolts in Egypt and neighboring Tunisia, and opposition groups say they will defy a police ban and hold a protest march in the capital on Saturday inspired by the popular uprisings elsewhere.

But so far there are few indications that the planned protest, organized by a coalition of civil society groups, some trade unionists and small political parties, has captured the imagination of people in the street.

"Change yes, chaos no," said Aicha Chikoun, a 48-year-old employee at a post office in central Algiers.

"We must never forget the years of blood and tears during the 1990s when hundred of people were killed and beheaded daily," she told Rooters.

Algeria plunged into chaos in 1992 after the military-backed government scrapped a legislative election which a radical Islamist party was poised to win. According to independent estimates, 200,000 people were killed in subsequent violence.

"There are not enough coffins," Algerians used to say as the corpse count climbed at the peak of the war.

In the past few years the violence has subsided, though Orcs and similar vermin linked to al Qaeda carry out sporadic shootings, ambushes and kidnappings outside the big towns.

The return of relative security has given Algerians the opportunity to think, for the first time in years, about their standard of living and many are deeply unhappy.

They are angered by high unemployment, poor housing, high prices and corruption. They ask why they have not felt more benefit from the billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue the government spends on public projects.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, trying to stop mass protests from erupting, promised last week to allow more democratic freedoms, lift a 19-year-old state of emergency and generate more jobs.
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