First Independent Mena Newspaper
Regime opacity and the secrecy shrouding the successor to ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika have been hampering Algeria from carrying out economic reforms to wean their economy from dependence on hydrocarbons, especially as the languishing oil prices at 50 dollars a barrel are set to last for years longer. International think tanks and independent media are […]
Plummeting oil prices and dwindling revenues prompted the Algerian government to adopt austerity measures including tax hikes and subsidies cuts leading to protests, notably in the restive south and northeast of the country. Algeria, which has nurtured a system based on generous handouts to the population taking the form of subsidies to fuel, electricity, housing […]
Amazigh militant and human rights activist Kamal Eddine Fekhar was rushed from prison to a hospital in the city of Mina near the restive Algerian Amazigh-speaking city of Ghardaia after staging a hunger strike, local reporters said. Kamal Eddine Fekhar started the hunger strike on January 3, 2017 in protest for his arbitrary detention on […]
Reporters Without Borders has denounced the suffocating lack of press freedom in Algerian media since the re-election of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a 4th term. The latest death in detention of British-Algerian journalist Mohamed Tamalt comes to blacken the picture of the alarming situation in the country because it is the first time that an […]
The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens against travel to Algeria due to a high threat of terrorist attacks and kidnappings in this country. In its latest updated travel warning, the US Department says terrorist groups remain active in Algeria where extremists have carried out attacks (often using bombs, ambushes, or false roadblocks) […]
As it heads straight towards a spiral of economic and social turmoil reminiscent of the situation that it experienced in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Algeria tries desperately to catch up with its western neighbor Morocco. As Rabat increasingly outmanoeuvres Algiers on the continent thanks to a decades-long coherent African strategy underpinned by south-south […]
Former head of the Algerian government, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, expressed optimism regarding an eminent opening of the closed Moroccan-Algerian borders. In a recent interview with CNN Arabic, Belkhadem, former Secreatry General of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN), said that the opening of the land borders between the two north Africa’s most populous countries is “inevitable.” […]
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has proposed to appoint former Islamist figure and aid, Abdelwahab Derbal, as the chairman of the High Independent Election Monitoring Body. In line with the new constitution adopted in February, the Algerian President appoints the chairman of the body, which will replace the much criticized “National Commission of election Supervision” and “National […]
Algeria has launched a new strategy called the “new economic growth model” aiming to diversify the economy and draw more investments to compensate for the collapse in oil prices. Yet, poor governance, insecurity, vested interests and regime opacity cast doubt on the success of the strategy. In an article on Foreign Policy, Robert Looney, describes […]
Ferhat Mhenni, the leader and founder of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), was denied an entry visa on Friday by a Morocco’s consulate in Villemomble in France, Algerian media reported. Mhenni, who holds a passport of a political refugee, was planning to speak at a conference held within the framework of the […]