Opinion by Arezki Daoud: To their chagrin, the Algerian regime’s hopes that the anti-government protest movement would die down in the month of Ramadan did not materialize. Once again, this unintelligent regime has poorly calculated everything, and that should not come as surprise given the low IQ of the remnants of the Bouteflika reign currently in charge. There is no intelligence, no creativity and no new ideas. It’s a regime frozen in time, where work was always directed by Said Bouteflika, Ahmed Ouyahia or the shadowing spy chiefs by remote control — often by phone — , reducing everyone else to robots, enforcers, or both. Initiatives never existed under the Boutef regime and in this one, and so we should not expect a sudden change.
As usual, the regime has missed every signal about how the protest movement started and how it works, and has failed to contain it. For months, even years, Algeria lived with the rhythm of social unrest and riots here and there, all over the country, over issues of housing shortages, lack of local economic development, deep state of corruption and the debilitating bureaucracy. The nation has reached the point where the bubble was inevitably about to burst, and they had the fantastic idea of seeking a fifth term for a dying president. Not so intelligent..After all, the government is managed by people who have no experience in governing or governance. All they did was to squander the country’s resources and maintain their position and privileges. But the bubble is bursting now and it will be hard to reverse it.
Today, the Algerian people are back to the street. In fact, they never left the street. What is extraordinary is that the people are protesting under intense circumstances and in an incredibly difficult environment. Not only they are feeling the heat of the regime, with its anti-riot police, censorship and fake news, but also under the intensity of the May heat. It is hot in here! They are doing all of this on an empty stomach and without the ability to drink even a single drop of water, kids, youth and the young-at-heart, everyone is on the same page. If anything, General Gaid Salah, who is today’s Algeria top man in-charge and can bring an end to this farce, should learn a lesson of humility. The Algerian people are now saying that nothing will stop them to continue to press for a substantial structural change in the system. General Gaid Salah may be tempted to take over just like Sisi did in Egypt. But it would be wiser if, at the age of 80, he becomes a hero and forces a change that the people want. Gaid Salah is increasingly seen as the new villain, but it is not too late for him to do the right thing and break the nasty clan system that has crippled Algeria since 1962.
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Algiers, May 10, 2019 (By Amal Belalloufi, with Aymeric Vincenot) – Protesters thronged Algeria’s capital for the first Friday mass rally of Ramadan, pressing their demands for reforms and the departure of key figures from ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime.
Demonstrators braved blazing sunshine to take to the streets en masse following the first weekly prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. Many were draped in Algerian flags as they blocked the roads around the capital’s main post office square, the epicentre of the protest movement which was launched in February and led to Bouteflika’s fall on April 2. “It’s really hot, it’s hard to march when you can’t drink water,” said Samir Asla, 58, standing in the shade of a tree. But despite the hardships, demonstrators have vowed to keep up the pressure, particularly on army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, a former Bouteflika loyalist and key powerbroker. “Algeria is a republic, not a barracks,” protesters shouted on the 12th consecutive Friday of protests. “The army is our army and Gaid has betrayed us!”
Demonstrators also called for the resignation of acting head of state Abdelkader Bensalah and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, both stalwarts of Bouteflika’s regime. Witnesses also reported protests in Oran, Constantine and Annaba, the second, third and fourth cities of Algeria, and local media cited rallies in several other regions.
– Tarnished by corruption –
Gaid Salah has dug in against protesters’ demands that key leaders quit and be replaced by transitional bodies, vowing to press ahead with presidential elections set for July 4. Demonstrators have been pressing for transitional bodies to be set up ahead of any election, arguing that their existing institutions – and leaders –
are too tarnished by corruption to guarantee a legitimate vote. Last week, the army chief said any change to the constitution was the prerogative of the next president, not the military. Gaid Salah, a longtime Bouteflika ally whose change of heart marked the beginning of the end for the 82-year-old president, has been accused of trying to impose his vision for a post-Bouteflika transition.
Rights groups condemned the arrest of the head of Algeria’s Worker’s Party, Louisa Hanoune, a three-time presidential candidate, who was detained Thursday on charges of involvement in “a plot against the army”. The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights said she had been detained after appearing as a witness at a military court. “This case of ‘conspiracy against the army’ seems like a good excuse for silencing all dissenting voices,” the League said. Protesters, however, have welcomed the detention of Bouteflika’s powerful brother Said and two former intelligence chiefs on charges including “conspiring” against the state. But many fear that the arrests are little more than a high-level purge and a power struggle between regime clans, rather than a genuine effort to reform the state. For the first time in a month state television did not broadcast live footage of Friday’s protest.
After the first protests erupted in February, journalists working for state media complained that their bosses had imposed a news blackout on the rallies against Bouteflika’s bid to seek a fifth presidential term. But as they gained in momentum, the protests became headline news on both private and public television channels. Last week, however, an Algerian state television presenter was fired after slamming the media’s role in supporting the Bouteflika regime, his colleagues said.
By AFP
