Algerian lawmakers on Tuesday appointed a regime stalwart as interim president, dismaying protesters seeking sweeping change after the resignation of former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who ruled the country for two decades.
The selection of President of the Council of the Nation Abdelkader Bensalah, 77, as Algeria’s first new president in 20 years followed constitutional rules, but went against the demands of demonstrators pushing for him and other top politicians to stand down.
The upper house speaker, a trusted ally of Bouteflika, later pledged to organize a “transparent” presidential election within 90 days, as laid out by the constitution.
Photo: Reuters
“We — citizens, the political class and state institutions — must work to ensure that the conditions, all conditions, are right for a transparent and regular presidential poll,” Bensalah said in a televised address.
Opposition parties refused to back the appointment of the establishment insider and boycotted the session, as thousands of students protested against him in Algiers.
“They haven’t heard us. We will continue to march,” they shouted, clutching handwritten placards and Algerian flags.
For the first time in seven weeks, police in the capital fired tear gas to try to disperse the protest by students, who were also hit with water cannons.
“Peaceful, peaceful,” they chanted, raising their arms in the air as they were surrounded by police.
The students were echoing calls made on Friday last week — in the first weekly mass protest since Bouteflika announced his departure after losing the military’s support — when Algerians demanded regime insiders be excluded from the political transition.
“Bensalah, Bouteflika, it’s the same thing,” said 20-year-old Roumaissa, an Algerian flag draped around her shoulders during Tuesday’s student protest.
Ahead of Bensalah’s appointment, an editorial in the pro-government daily El Moudjahid suggested that he should step aside from the presidential post.
He is “not tolerated by the citizen movement, which demands his immediate departure,” or by the opposition and various political groups in both houses of parliament, the newspaper said.
Three men in particular have drawn demonstrators’ ire: Bensalah, Algerian Constitutional Council President Tayeb Belaiz and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.
The protest movement is calling for a new transitional framework that is committed to deep reforms and organizing free elections.
Human Rights Watch said that Bouteflika’s departure is “at most a first step in ending autocratic rule.”
“During any transitional phase, authorities should fully respect the rights of Algerians to speak, assemble and associate with one another,” the watchdog said in a statement.
Algerians of all ages have rallied since late February against Bouteflika, who resigned a week ago after efforts to appease demonstrators proved fruitless.
Facing endemic unemployment, young Algerians hope that the protest movement can ultimately improve their prospects.
“It must change. Today, young people in Algeria are without a future,” said Yassine, a 21-year-old studying construction technology.
Although Bouteflika’s resignation was celebrated by demonstrators, they have remained firm in pushing for a wider overhaul of the political system.
The country’s youth are “the wealth of Algeria,” physics teacher Rabea said. “It’s them who will make the future of the country, they must be listened to.”
BEIJING FORUM: ‘So-called freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region challenges the norms of international relations,’ the minister said Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday denounced “hegemonic logic and acts of bullying” during remarks at a Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the US. Organizers said that about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries, including political, military and academic leaders, were in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day event comes as China presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony, Dong warned of “new threats and challenges” now facing world peace. “While the themes of the times — peace and development —
Decked out with fake crystal chandeliers and velvet sofas, cosmetic surgery clinics in Afghanistan’s capital are a world away from the austerity of Taliban rule, where Botox, lip filler and hair transplants reign. Despite the Taliban authorities’ strict theocratic rule, and prevailing conservatism and poverty in Afghanistan, the 20 or so clinics in Kabul have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country. Foreign doctors, especially from Turkey, travel to Kabul to train Afghans, who equally undertake internships in Istanbul, while equipment is imported from Asia or Europe. In the waiting rooms, the clientele is often well-off and includes men
BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: A prosecutor said they considered the risk of Hak-ja Han tampering with evidence to be very high, which led them to seek the warrant South Korean prosecutors yesterday requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the Unification Church, Hak-ja Han, on allegations of bribery linked to the country’s former first lady and incitement to destroy evidence. The move came a day after the 82-year-old was questioned over her alleged role in bribing former first lady Kim Keon-hee and a lawmaker. Founded in 1954 by her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church has long been the subject of controversy and criticism, with its teachings centered on Moon’s role as the “second coming” and its mass weddings. Followers are derisively referred to as “Moonies.” However, the church’s
Venezuela on Saturday organized a day of military training for civilians in response to the US deployment in the Caribbean, and amid new threats from US President Donald Trump. About a month ago, Washington deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 jets sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug and anti-terrorism operation. Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused Washington of waging “undeclared war” in the Caribbean, after US strikes killed over a dozen alleged drug traffickers off his country’s coast. Caracas also accused the US of seeking regime change, and
RSS