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In Algeria, Ali Benflis, the "man of change" from the seraglio
THE WORLD | 03/04/2014 at 11:11 • Updated 04/04/2014 at 11:51 |By
Isabelle Mandraud
What is run Ali Benflis? Ten years after a first unsuccessful attempt, the man recidivism by assisting in the Algerian presidential election of April 17. Former Minister of Justice , Prime Minister, Chief of the National Liberation Front (FLN), the party in power since independence, campaign manager of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ali Benflis 69 years, knows all Algerian political machinery. He also knows that since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1962, never a second round was necessary.
True or false hare competitor as accuse
his critics who accuse him of
credibilityby his presence a vote
"a foregone conclusion" , he prepares to
face once again as the main competitor among the other four, the outgoing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, sick candidate to succeed for a 4 th term. The first duel in 2004 had left bloodless, with 6.4% of votes.
"Nothing is played , ensures Ali Benflis the
World ,
but it will be very careful. "" In 2004 , he accuses
the winner, it was fraud. Again, we prepared the tool of massive fraud but Algerian society has evolved and this time I'm prepared for it to resist . "The former prime minister sacked in 2003 and since then scrambled with the current head of state said that it will have on election day an observer in each of the 60,000 polling stations.
"We will even organize seminars for training " , he adds.
He traveled ALL REGIONS BY PLANE
This time also, the candidate
"independent" with a high silhouette and a hint of mustache, who likes to
present as
"the man of change" , has strong means. Since the opening of the official campaign period on March 23, he travels all regions on a plane rented for the occasion, bringing in its wake,
"70 journalists accompanying ".
All financed, according to the applicant, for
"the gifts of some individuals that I do not even know" and
"a check of the state of 15 million dinars given to each candidate." "I also have the support of 23 political parties and 213 national or regional associations, without counting all the support committees " says Ali Benflis between two meetings, Tuesday 1 st April.
In
Algeria , some people also see it as the unofficial candidate of the powerful Department of Intelligence and Security.
"In the past, military security was the party politics of the arm ed. Today, the army has gone " , fell on March 29 the historian Mohammed Harbi, a connoisseur of the Algerian state, at a conference in
Paris .
A NEW CONSTITUTION
Armed with his campaign slogan "Together for a company liberties" candidate Benflis does not seem in any case,
be difficult to
fill rooms. Supporters or just curious come the
listening place its focus on the establishment of a new constitution. program
"The Zeroual of 1996 was raped in 2008 " , asserts the candidate, referring to the revision that deleted this date the limit of two presidential terms.
Ali Benflis promises to be
introducing all the guarantees
make Parliament's role,
"with an executive accountable to their elected" status for the opposition and
allowthe courts to
become "truly independent" .
This Constitution, the former lawyer wants
"consensual". "I'll take it for the time it takes, bringing together political actors and civil society, which has never been the case" , he said. A Bouira in Kabylia, March 29, the candidate Benflis mainly triggered concerns in reaching out to former executives of the Islamic Front of salvation, now dissolved, after
having qualified
as "unacceptable" "the exclusion of a portion of the population from the political field. "
"I extend my hand to all Algerians , confirms
World Ali Benflis.
There will be no peace without bringing everyone around the table, no consensus can notrecognize all stakeholders. Under the guise of I-don't-know-what, we want toexclude a nationalist fringe Islamist ... "" And then , if he cries,
he must finish with this story of fraud in elections for twenty years! "
AIRLINE TICKETS "CHEAPER"
At each of his dice
investments , Ali Benflis adds a local touch. In Saharawi territory in Tindouf, in the extreme south-western Algeria, where he was the first to
make it promises tickets
"cheaper" in the name of territorial equity. A Tizi Ouzou in Kabylia, it focuses on the
"emancipation of Tamazight" , the Berber language, and pays tribute to activists Socialist Forces Front, the oldest opposition party Kabyle origin, killed in 1963 , chaining praise in Arabic, Berber and French.
" You 're the first in the democratic struggle and I've always said that it is a region with avant-garde " , has he then started according to comments reported by the newspaper
El Watan . So as to
erase the Kabyle "Black Spring" of 2001, where more than a hundred young people had died while he was the head of government.In the region of Ghardaia gateway to the Sahara, plagued by deadly clashes between communities Mozabites (Berber Muslim rite Ibadi) and Arabic, he speaks human rights and state failure.
Everywhere Ali Benflis denounced the
"regionalism" and evokes a new administrative division.
"Algeria does not have enough wilaya ,
not common enough, we need a new territorial organization " , he whispers. Everywhere, too, speaks of everyday life
. "People are fed up with badly made roads, lack of education in schools ..." Man of the seraglio, has long participated in the "system" and collaborated in the first mandate Bouteflika, he must
convince today that will be different tomorrow. What inspires this thought a keen observer of the Algerian political scene:
"With him, you move an inch, but it will still take a millimeter" .
Global News for Women by Women
Algeria’s New Rebel
April 2, 2014 by
VALERIE
Photo Credit: Khadidja M
BY FARAH SOUAMES
ALGIERS – Amira Bouraoui, a humble 39-year-old, Algiers-based gynecologist, may appear to be an unlikely rebel.
Yet in recent weeks she emerged as an outspoken voice in Algeria’s Barakat, or Enough, a growing grassroots opposition movement.
Barakat’s protests have gained momentum since Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a partially paralyzed ruler in power since 1999, registered for another presidential run in early March. His expected win in the April 17 election will commence his fourth five-year term.
As a founding member and spokeswoman of the group, Bouraoui was the first woman to speak out publicly against Bouteflika’s presidential candidacy on television and in local newspapers.
“I am only a citizen coming out of a decade of terror,” Bouraoui told VALERIE magazine.
While a growing number of small protests face harsh crackdown by security services, demonstrations have spread outside Algiers in recent weeks and reached many towns across the country.
Over the past several decades, Algeria’s government has stifled dissent through laws restricting associations and public protests. During Bouteflika’s first term, Prime Minister Ali Benflis approved an anti-demonstration law in Algiers as violence and instability spread in the capital.
In 2012, the Algerian government passed a law on associations, curbing non-governmental activities and their ability to register or receive outside funding.
“There’s much the government needs to do to create an environment for credible elections, but one important step would be to allow Algerians to form associations, meet, and organize events without hindrance,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy director for Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “Algeria needs to have a vibrant public debate ahead of the April 17 presidential elections.”
Given risk of harsh punishment for speaking out, protests in Algeria have not reached the same magnitude as in neighboring countries. With recent upheavals in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya plunging their countries into prolonged transition and power struggles, many Algerians prefer the status quo.
Amira Bouraoui (left) with other supporters of Barakat (Enough) movement.
Many in Algeria have a vivid memory of polarizing violence, are aware of threats caused by radical Islamists and are wary of disrupting the existing system.
The government made people believe that street demonstrations will make Algeria the next “victim” of the Arab Spring, Bouraoui said, “and magically it worked with a population sick and tired of more than a decade of violence.”
Yet Bouraoui and other
Barakat activists are not ready to give up. They are energized to act after decades of political paralysis, frustrated by the lack of meaningful changes and reform.
”In our system, they only make sure that we eat, drink and sleep, and we don’t have the right to ask for more,” Bouraoui said. “We are hostages of a corrupt regime that wants to last forever and the only way to control things is (through) fear.”
With her colleagues, she launched
Barakat’s
Facebook page March 2, which gathered more than 30,000 followers in one month. Virtually overnight, Bouraoui went from an anonymous doctor who worked for state medical institutions for eight years to a leading female voice against the regime.
“I found myself speaking to national media and in TV shows just after the first dispersed demonstration (March 2), it was kind of strange going back to work the next days,” she laughed, noting that many of her colleagues were supportive. “I know we need patience and perseverance; it is not easy to fight a 52-year-old corrupt system.”
But the bulk of the dissent is still limited to online activity. And street protests come at a price.
Over the last month, Bouraoui has been arrested three times.
“I felt so ashamed and offended to be arrested that way and interrogated, while corrupt officials involved in many scandals are living freely and enjoying life inside and outside the country,” she said of her first arrest on March 2.
But it is clear Bouraoui’s actions and
Barakat’s rising profile are inspiring others. Women comprise an estimated half of
Barakat’s members and at least 30 women take on leadership roles.
“She really represents the Algerian women’s spirit, the fighter spirit of all these women who scarified their lives to see a real democracy in our country,” said Sidali Filali, a blogger and activist.
Farah Souames is an Algerian journalist covering the Middle East and North Africa.
Kerry's arrival in Algiers.
Kerry opens U.S-Algeria Strategic Dialogue with promise to increase defense cooperation
The U.S.-Algeria Strategic Dialogue kicked off in Algiers on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted that the conference will focus on "security, political cooperation, and economic and commercial opportunities, education and civil society engagement."
By JC Finley | April 3, 2014 at 12:47 PM |
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, joined by Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, tells the Algerian people he is looking forward to a Strategic Dialogue between their country and the United States after arriving in Algiers on April 3, 2014. (
State Department)
April 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry is in Algiers for the joint U.S.-Algeria Strategic Dialogue.
In his opening remarks Thursday, Kerry explained that "experts from both parties are going to participate in working groups that are focused on three areas: security, political cooperation, and economic and commercial opportunities, education and civil society engagement."
With regard to
security cooperation, Kerry announced, "In the years to come, the United States hopes to partner with Algeria to build a more robust defense relationship based on mutual respect, and obviously ... our shared interests."
The U.S. utilizes the
Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership as its "primary vehicle," Kerry said "to support long-term capabilities of the countries in the West and North Africa to face the AQIM threat." That Partnership can, he said, be complemented by an additional cooperative initiative with Algeria.
Kerry concluded his opening remarks with a message from President
Barack Obama, that is "very, very anxious to see this working effort, this dialogue produce a stronger relationship."
That cooperation, Kerry joked, does not extend to the World Cup: "our teams may have to clash."
[
State Department]
News / Africa
US, Algeria Work to Improve Security in Maghreb, Sahel
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks with Algeria's Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra (R) before addressing a news conference at the Foreign Ministry in Algiers, April 3, 2014.
April 03, 2014
ALGIERS — The United States and Algeria say they are working together to combat terrorism in North and West Africa by strengthening both security and economic opportunity. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra chair a
strategic dialogue on military and commercial cooperation.
Secretary Kerry said the U.S. and Algeria were working to increase security coordination to fight drug trafficking and kidnapping-for-ransom that fund terrorism in North and West Africa.
"We want to do this so that Algerian security services have the tools and the training needed in order to defeat al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. And we will work to address the instability that has spread throughout the Maghreb and Sahel," he said.
He said Algerian efforts in Mali and Niger underscore its constructive role in regional stability.
There has been an increase in al-Qaida-affiliated violence across the region since the fall of Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi in 2011.
African and French troops have fought Islamist extremists in neighboring Mali. There have been attacks in Niger, Tunisia and northern Nigeria, as well as last year's assault on a gas plant in Algeria in which more than 40 hostages were killed.
Foreign Minister Lamamra said Algeria would never back down from fighting terror and asked for U.S. help with electronic surveillance.
"The Sahel region has abruptly evolved into one of our preeminent concerns as terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and all kinds of criminal activities have woven their webs and built their networks in the region, threatening the stability and very existence of the people and states of the area," he said.
Lamamra said it was now a necessity to provide a decent future for the people of the region who are still facing "dire living conditions and harsh adversity."
"We need to join forces to help advance the emergence of stronger states in the Sahel and to develop impactful economic plans to foster the best conditions possible for both security and development," he said.
The foreign minister said this can be done by creating jobs, encouraging the growth of small business, and improving access to water and energy.
Kerry agreed, saying there must be alternatives for a growing population of young unemployed.
"We need to make sure that we can find jobs for these people, that their future is defined through education and opportunity and not through IED's and violence," he said.
Kerry said those offering violence did not offer jobs, education, health care or programs to pull a country together around a common identity.
"They destroy. And they tell people in a direct confrontation with modernity that everybody has to do what they say and live the way they tell them. We've been through these struggles for too long as common humanity to be cowed by that, intimidated by it, or ruled by it," he said.
Lamamra said Algeria was committed to making the Maghreb a integrated, peaceful, and prosperous region and will spare no effort in contributing to restoring stability and security.
That includes the disputed region of Western Sahara, where Algeria backs ethnic Sahrawi opposition to Moroccan rule, and where Lamamra said there must be greater autonomy.
"The right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people as well as the human rights, their human dignity for them to at last enjoy the blessings of a normal life and fulfill their God-given potential," said the foreign minister.
Kerry is expected to discuss Western Sahara in talks in Morocco Friday as well.
He said the United States looked forward to upcoming elections here in Algeria that are transparent and in line with international standards.
President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika is running for another five-year term, but the 77-year-old's campaign is surrounded by questions about his failing health.
Algeria’s Role in African Security
APRIL 3, 2014
Benjamin Nickels
Algeria is often seen as averse to security cooperation, but it has been deeply involved in Africa’s security architecture for years.
Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Algeria provides an opportunity to discuss security cooperation and counterterrorism with a critical if ambivalent
partner. With fallout from the Arab Spring and the Mali Crisis creating chaos along its borders and the In Aminas attack highlighting insecurity in its own territory, Algeria has been forced, albeit reluctantly, to move toward
greater strategic cooperation with its neighbors. But these recent moves should not overshadow Algeria’s long-standing investments in regional security. Indeed, Algeria has become ubiquitous in the structures of African security cooperation.
Kerry’s host, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramtane Lamamra, came to Algeria’s top diplomatic post from his position as commissioner of the Peace and Security Department (PSD) at the African Union (AU), a seat he held for several years (2008–2013). The AU’s most vital section, the PSD houses the Peace and Security Council (PSC), Africa’s equivalent to the United Nations Security Council, and the commissioner holds powerful functions like representing the department publicly and setting the agenda for biweekly PSC ambassadorial meetings that assess ongoing conflicts and crises on the continent. As commissioner, Lamamra—
dubbed Mr. Africa—was the foremost AU figure after the chairperson. Lamamra is only one of many Algerian officials to hold key AU security and counterterrorism positions. Before him, Said Djinnit was the PSD’s first commissioner (2002–2008), and already while working at the AU’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, Djinnit led African peace processes and helped design the Africa Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the framework through which the AU now addresses and handles peace and security on the continent.
Algeria has since invested heavily in the architecture Djinnit helped design. Until his death in 2012, Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria’s first president, was the chairperson and sole northern representative of the AU’s Panel of the Wise, a body of five eminent persons from Africa’s five subregions who serve as conflict mediators and advisors for the AU chairperson. Algeria has supported efforts to strengthen the Northern Standby Brigade of the African Standby Force, the PSC’s
enforcement arm intended for rapid intervention as well as peace support and humanitarian operations. Algeria has also helped implement the AU Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism by
hosting and helping staff the Africa Center for Studies and Research on Terrorism (better known by its French acronym, CAERT), which aims to guide and coordinate counterterrorism across Africa.
These long-term investments in the APSA, along with its bureaucrats placed in key United Nations posts like the UN Office to the AU and the UN Office for West Africa (where Djinnit is now Special Representative of the Secretary-General), might seem to contradict the image of an insular Algeria uncomfortable with regional and international cooperation. Optimists could argue that Algeria deserves credit for advances toward APSA’s realization, halting and incomplete though they may be, and point to a hardening AU line against unconstitutional changes of government and a deployment of AU troops for peace support missions in Somalia, Mali, and the Central African Republic.
Conversely, skeptics could argue that Algeria’s pervasive presence at the AU is really a stratagem to bend African security cooperation and counterterrorism to parochial interests. Algerian personnel might be meant mainly to keep the architecture in check. At the AU, Lamamra has been succeeded by yet another Algerian PSD commissioner, Smail Chergui (2013–present), preserving the slot as the exclusive domain of a single nation, whereas the other seven AU commissioner positions have changed hands at least once during the past dozen years. Meanwhile, Algeria has launched, separate from APSA, its own security cooperation initiatives for the so-called
pays du champs of the Sahel, such as the regional command for joint counterterrorism operations in Tamanrasset.
Cynics could find special fodder in cases of convenient consonance between AU actions and Algerian interests occurring in Algeria’s own backyard. CAERT has pushed unusually hard to develop counterterrorism intelligence-sharing Fusion and Liaison Units in Sahel countries critical to Algiers, for example. CAERT also recently barred delegates from non–AU member state and principal rival to Algerian subregional influence, Morocco, from attending an international meeting that CAERT was co-hosting with the Global Counterterroism Forum and its Sahel working group.
There is plenty to disappoint those hoping for robust security cooperation in the Maghreb, Sahel, and Africa more broadly, but partners need not succumb to pessimistic perspectives of Algeria’s role in regional security. Whatever the motives, in the end Algeria has patiently and deliberately committed itself to the AU and to APSA. Along with asking Algiers to enhance recent overtures on security cooperation toward neighbors, the international community has every right to challenge Algeria to fully assume the leadership role it has already claimed. And partner nations, especially African member states, have every reason to measure Algiers’ persistent application for presence and authority at the AU against the performance and results it provides. Dialogues like the one between Kerry and Lamamra this week should serve as occasions not only for discussing Algeria’s recent strategic arrangements with its neighbors, but also for evaluating developments and setting expectations regarding regional peace and security progress within the AU security structures that Algeria has heavily invested in for years.
Benjamin Nickels is the academic chair for transnational threats and counterterrorism at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). The views expressed here are those of the author alone.
