He mentioned plans to “reinforce separation of powers, strengthen\u2026 the role of the opposition and guarantee rights and liberties”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some viewed this as a sign of policy changes to come to ensure a smooth transition of power, yet there has been no evidence of this and his appearances since have been few and far between.ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algerians may have been lucky enough to catch brief glimpses of him on state television greeting visiting foreign dignitaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or catch him at the opening of a new conference hall in 2016 – the footage shows him in a wheelchair, looking weak and tired, but alert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was not until 2018 that it was clear that his party was pushing him forward as a contender for this year’s elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was at the opening of a restored mosque and two metro stations in the capital, Algiers. A few weeks later he was given a tour to see the construction of the Great Mosque of Algiers, a $2bn (\u00a31.52bn) project billed as being the third biggest mosque in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Divisions run deep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Yet again, however, the president, who won elections in 2014 despite doing no personal campaigning, does not have any strong challengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why have the ruling coalition and the opposition not been able to put forward other viable candidates?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The opposition has historically been too divided – and as the president grew older and frailer the bickering within the ruling elite, including the army, has paralysed any political change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) has ruled the North African nation since gaining independence from France in 1962 after a bloody seven-year war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Le pouvoir” (the power), as many Algerians have come to describe those who run the country, has been centred around the party, some powerful generals and prominent businessmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may also be interested in:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Bouteflika’s younger brother Said, 61, is the one holding sway in the presidency at the moment – controlling access to the president. The other important figure is Gen Ahmed Gaid Salah, the army chief of staff, who has centralised a great deal of power around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The regime has always more or less worked by unaccountable factional decision-making behind the scenes – that continues to be the case but now it’s just more obvious given that the figure-head is so obviously incapable of exercising governance by himself,” Algeria expert James McDougal from Oxford University told the BBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The political class has included some of the opposition, who have either ruled in coalition or towed the government line over the years, which has largely discredited them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a club that has been accused of corruption and nepotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent comments to the French media about the protests, prominent Algerian writer Kamel Daoud said the country’s youth were being robbed of power by their elders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said by offering a candidate “who was almost dead”, “le pouvoir” was showing its contempt for the young people in Algeria where more than 30% of people aged under 30 are unemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is the legacy of Algeria’s recent civil war which seems to have stagnated attempts at reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brutal conflict ended in 2002 and weighs heavily on those who fought in it and have grown up in the wake of it – to the extent that some have seemed to be willing to trade some of their freedoms for stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The violence left an estimated 150,000 Algerians dead, some of whom were “forcibly disappeared” by the security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even liberal opponents of the government are believed to have collaborated with the security agencies in the 1990s during the civil war against Islamist insurgents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has all led to a deep distrust at all levels of society – and has left little room for any genuine compromises or meaningful national dialogue to instigate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Tunisian human rights defender, who spent many years visiting Algeria, told me she was always struck by this paranoia – to the extent that even local human rights groups were unwilling to share information with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other countries in North Africa have shown that decades of one-man rule leave deep roots. In Libya, neighbours, siblings and friends distrusted each other under Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. He was deposed in 2011, the same year as Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s long-time ruler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had ruled Tunisia through “landslide victories” at the polls and a system that cornered the opposition, weakened it and ultimately reduced them to a side show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, President Bouteflika again offered dialogue – and constitutional reform in the event of his re-election as a way forward. This offer came in the form of a letter read out by a presenter on state television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is new this time is that he has promised that this will lead to early elections in which he will not contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this could be an opportunity to ensure a peaceful transition of power, he will have to move quickly given his ailing health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Algeria’s problems are, in the words of some regional observers, bigger than an ailing president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a system that has kept running thanks to the many people who oil it. For many Algerians it is difficult to understand how their 82-year-old president, who suffered a stroke six years ago and can hardly walk or talk, can run the country. This turned to disbelief when it was announced that Abdelaziz Bouteflika was running for a fifth term in April – he did not even turn up in person on Sunday to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3214,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3213\/revisions\/3214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Presentational](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/media\/images\/76020000\/jpg\/_76020974_line976.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPervasive paranoia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"