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Note From the Editor
By Arezki Daoud
Algeria: Growing unease with the role of the Generals in the Algerian transition
By Arezki Daoud – Tomorrow Friday, 5 April 2019, there will be rain in the morning in Algiers, but it will likely dissipate on time for after Friday prayers, allowing protesters to go back to the streets, to the chagrin of the current government officials. General feeling in the country is that although phase one of forcing the president to resign was successful, the intensity of the challenges ahead will progressively harden.
The next step is to see the regime’s public-facing operatives resign. They have been named as the three Bs: PM Bedoui, Senate Speaker Bensalah, and head of Constitutional Council Belaiz. Analysts and the general public feel these three and others in their circles and respective administrations are small potatoes and can be handled fairly easily.
The next phase after that is to put in place a transition team and a process that actually initiate deep and meaningful reforms. But there is growing talk that the system today is not looking for a real transition but rather a change in the faces and figures, disguised as a transition. The person cited as the biggest source of trouble and possible savior of the SYSTEM is actually none other than the General (Gaid Salah), who was at first credited for saving the day, but now he is reported to have (allegedly) “engineered” the “premature” resignation of Bouteflika, only 20 days before the latter was supposed to leave anyway. There is growing suspicion that his move was to deflate efforts to put in place substantial changes.
Gaid Salah’s call for Bouteflika to resign got a lot of positive feedback from protesters. But a growing number of analysts are warning not to fall in the traps of illusion. There are talks about the head of the presidential guard, a certain Gen. Ben Ali Ben Ali (left in above photo), agreeing with Gen. Gaid Salah “to retire” the president, his brother, and others to save “what’s left of the furniture.” The idea is to enable some top generals, not the military as an institution proper, which is highly respected by the Algerian public, but those who have been in and around the system, to reincarnate the very system they appear to be siding against for maximum public endorsement.
There have been placards among demonstrators today echoing this, saying “No Bouteflika, No Gaid Salah.” But the swift arrests of many members of the Bouteflika clan, including businessman Ali Heddad, the rumors of the president’s brother Said as being held in protective custody, the not-so legitimate government of Bedoui promising changes, etc… are widely reported by analysts to be meant to muddy the waters.They are the necessary heads to sacrifice.
Friday will be a major test of whether the street agrees with this theory or is happy with what it achieved so far. If the street’s decision is to maintain pressure to press for deep reforms, the arms wrestling period ahead promises to be a long one.
