Algeria Columns Headlines Opinions

Bouteflika’s Fifth Term Haunts Upcoming Algerian Presidential Elections

Algeria has finally announced the holding of presidential elections among indicators that ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika may run for a fifth term. The 81-year-old president who has been in power since 1999 has not spoken in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013. Yet, indicators show that the king makers within the Algerian regime […]

Algeria Columns Headlines Opinions

Purge of Algeria’s Top Generals Casts Shadow on Regime Opacity

A purge of long serving military officials in Algeria has cast a shadow on an opaque regime where an ailing president braces for a fifth term amid a silently brewing power struggle between rival clans within the regime. In August, four of Algeria’s six regional military commanders were let go, along with five of the […]

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Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika Fires Two Top Army Generals

Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last weekend dismissed two powerful army generals, the official news agency APS said. The generals, Said Bey and Lahbib Chentouf, had been in charge of the first and second military regions. Algeria is divided into six military regions. Algeria’s army has long been considered a behind-the-scene decision-maker. The presidency did not […]

Algeria Columns Headlines Opinions

Algeria: FT Explains Why Business Tycoons Back a Bouteflika 5th Term

The Financial Times has unveiled the reasons behind the support of the corporate barons of the bid of ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a 5th term in office despite uncertainties over his health. “The businessmen have been one of the biggest interest groups behind Bouteflika, aged 81-year old. All made their money under him,” […]

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Algeria: Paris-based Jeune Afrique Magazine banned

Paris-based and Africa-oriented media Jeune Afrique (JA) has roasted Algerian authorities after local authorities imposed a partial ban on its publications over alleged economy challenges. JA last week issued a statement over the ban, which it said has been unilateral. “Since April 23, our magazine has been absent from the kiosks in Algeria,” the statement […]

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Algeria’s Ghost President

The failing health of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the secrecy shrouding his successor continue to raise concern in the national and international press regarding the future of a country heavily battered by the slump in oil prices. In the latest of a series of analyses in the French media, weekly paper, Le Point, has […]

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Algeria: Nation Called to Halt Bouteflika’s Intent for Fifth Term

Three well-known public figures including a former top army commander have called Algerians to unite and withstand President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s intention to run for 2019 elections despite “his inability to run the country’s affairs”. For Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a former foreign minister and presidential candidate in 1999, Ali Yahia Abdenour, a lawyer and former minister […]

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Algeria: Army rejects opposition’s call to take over to end political crisis

Army commander Ahmed Gaïd Salah Thursday brushed aside calls by the opposition to take control of the country in a bid to end the seemingly power vacuum at the head of the country as many doubt President AbdelAziz Bouteflika rules the North African country. Salah in a speech in Constantine, Northeastern Algeria, noted that the […]

Algeria Headlines

Trench Warfare at the Helm of the Algerian Regime

A silent struggle for power is brewing between different interest groups at the top of the Algerian regime ignited by the obvious deteriorating health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika whose public appearances are a thing of the past. The media has long been speaking of a soft coup by the brother of the ailing President, Said […]

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Algiers summons Tunisian ambassador over minister’s reference to Algeria as communist state

The Algerian Foreign Ministry Sunday summoned Tunisia’s ambassador to protest recent comments by a Tunisian minister referring to Algeria as “a communist state”. Abdelmajid Ferchichi was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to provide clarification over the remarks on Algeria made by minister for local affairs Riadh Mouakher in Rome on May 4. Algiers has condemned […]