Algeria Again? Contemporary affairs

[davidbfpo]

Algeria wrested independence from France in 1962 after a bitter and extremely violent eight-year struggle. The legacy has continued to shadow its efforts to create a workable model of development and a humane life for its citizens. Francis Ghils invokes a wealth of memory from his years reporting Algeria - in particular, a pivotal few months in 1991 - to reflect on a compelling country's troubled half-century.

Fascinating insight:http://www.opendemocracy.net/francis...gerian-odyssey

I always puzzled at how a revolution turns in on itself and after 1991 Algerians truly terrified each other.

[davidbfpo]

Algeria despite its size, oil & gas resources, position and history rarely gets English language coverage, it is so refreshing to see this Time article; it starts wth:

One wet, chilly February morning, Ali Zaoui climbed into his car in Algeria’s capital, drove 300 miles south into the desert, and knocked on the door of a three-bedroom house in the oasis city of Ghardaïa. Zaoui was well known to the occupants. They were the parents of the then most wanted man in North Africa, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist commander who had masterminded the hostage siege in January at a natural-gas plant in his native Algeria. The attack resulted in the deaths of 38 foreigners, including managers and specialists of Western oil companies. It was Algeria’s worst terrorist attack in years, and the worst ever for the global oil industry, anywhere. Zaoui, a veteran anti-terror fighter for Algeria’s security services, had spent years coaxing armed militants to surrender under an amnesty program and had come to know Belmokhtar’s parents well over five years of trying to persuade one of Algeria’s most fearsome jihadists to surrender. He never had won over Belmokhtar. But Zaoui thought they had an understanding: Don’t target Algeria.

Link:http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/the...ttles-algeria/

[davidbfpo]

A rare update on internal politics:http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomeg...ia-s-president

Which ends:

Mohamed Benchicou, a respected commentator, thinks otherwise. “For the first time since independence the security services have been marginalised,” he wrote in the online journal Tout Sur l’Algérie. “God is dead.”

[davidbfpo]

There is a Presidential election in April 2014, yes I know what does that actually mean?

In rare coverage of Algeria, Carnegie have published a short article (as per title):http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/20...n-algeria/h0s4

Here is a taster:

A few months ahead of the presidential elections—and despite their pronouncements—the Islamists have not only proven unprepared but also unable to rally behind a consensus candidate. This is a strong indication that they lack a real electoral future.

(Ends) The images from Egypt and Syria serve as painful reminders, and the belief that a vote for the Islamists will not be the solution to Algeria’s problems seems to have only strengthened.

What happens in Algeria IMHO matters in the Arab World, not for the "man in street", rather those who today have the power.

[davidbfpo]

A short, useful article on the 'dirty war' and ends with:

Grant it to the Algerian regime: they orchestrated this brilliantly. When the wave of rebellions broke on the Arab world in 2010, they hardly touched Algeria. The population was frightened of the Islamists and frightened of a return to violence; the Islamists were broken, splintered into too many factions to be any kind of force. The security services had done their work: whatever the level of discontent with their colourless rule, the population is now convinced that the only alternative is takfirism—and for the urban, the secular (a large number in Algeria), and the women and national minorities like the Berbers this is enough to hold together a strategic majority for the regime.

Link:http://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2...hat-they-seem/

[davidbfpo]

The first of three old articles by the late Mahfoud Bennoune, an Algerian academic, which will appear slowly till July and starts that the late Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka:

believed that one of the best ways to comprehend the kind of horror that is happening in Nigeria is to remember the experience of other nations in the region confronted with jihadist groups much like Boko Haram.

Then asks:

Some of the most common reactions to the mass kidnapping of school girls by the jihadist group Boko Haram in Nigeria are to ask questions like: how can this be happening? Why would anyone do something so terrible?

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/ma...n-mindlessness

[davidbfpo]

An important, concise explanation of how Algeria is working, this time with the emphasis on diplomacy, although other capabilities are still around:http://africanarguments.org/2014/09/...-imad-mesdoua/

Officials in Algeria still hope they can steer the region away from simplistic military interventionism, towards political solutions and “greater responsibility”.

(Ends with) The fierce debate raging inside the Algerian regime over greater or less interventionist action will continue. For now, North Africa’s ‘reluctant policeman’ will no doubt stick to a number of its non-interventionist dogmas. However, should a cataclysmic event like In Amenas occur on Algerian soil once more, the country will have no choice but to take decisive action.

Author's bio:http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/imad-mesdoua/

Now for something different, as Professor John Schindler refers to Algeria within a wider article on counter-terrorism is not always what you think you see:http://20committee.com/2014/09/25/wh...rism-is-wrong/

Scheming and ruthless come to mind.