Algerians yesterday waited for a decision by the constitutional council on whether ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is fit for office, after the top army officer called for his removal in a bid to defuse mass protests.
Algerian Deputy Minister of National Defense General Ahmed Gaid Salah, addressing officers in a speech broadcast on Tuesday, said that the solution to the biggest political crisis since the army canceled elections in 1992 would be the exit of the president on health grounds.
The position taken by the powerful army chief of staff was a clear signal that the president — who has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 — is unlikely to survive the protests that have threatened to topple the ruling elite.
The political turmoil has highlighted growing public discontent with the allegations of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement that have tarnished Bouteflika’s 20-year rule.
“This is a default solution following the failure of the negotiations on the departure of the President. It moves away from the democratic transition and approaches a framed succession,” said Hasni Abidi, a Swiss-based Algerian who heads a think tank.
That approach could break a deadlock — for now. Protesters are pushing for an overhaul of the establishment entrenched in power since independence from France in 1962, and the old guard hopes it can put forward a candidate approved by the army.
For years, rumors have swirled about potential successors, but no single credible candidate has emerged with the backing of the military.
The next formal step is for the constitutional council to formally rule on Bouteflika’s fitness for office. The body has not said when it might reach its decision.
A ruling that he is not fit to govern must be ratified by a two-thirds majority of the members of parliament’s lower and upper houses.
Based on Article 102 of the constitution, Algerian Council of the Nation President Abdelkader Bensalah would serve as caretaker president for at least 45 days in the nation of more than 40 million people.
The last time the army stepped in during a crisis was in 1992, when the generals canceled an election that Muslim parties were poised to win.
That move triggered a civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people.
The military remains highly sensitive to any signs of instability and Salah has said that he will not allow the demonstrations to lead to chaos.
The stakes are high, for Algeria is a leading member of OPEC and a top gas supplier to Europe, although so far oil and gas output appears unaffected by the unrest, an International Energy Agency official said on Tuesday.
Algeria is also regarded by Western states as a partner in counterterrorism, a significant military force in North Africa and a key diplomatic player in efforts to resolve crises in neighboring Mali and Libya.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS