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1 [1] (March 18, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govyeq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 1914 Updated March 18, 2019 Algeria: In Focus A sudden surge of large, peaceful protests opposing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth five-year term in office is bringing questions about Algeria's presidential succession and political future to the fore. President Bouteflika (82) is in evident ill health and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. On March 11, 2019, he announced in a written statement that he was rescinding his candidacy and that elections slated for April would be delayed indefinitely to allow a national conference to draft a new constitution. Protests have since grown as many demonstrators have interpreted the announcement as unresponsive to their concerns and a de facto unilateral extension of Bouteflika's current term. Algeria is a republic characterized by a strong presidency and security apparatus, with a state-centric economy and social welfare programs underpinned by oil and gas revenues. State decisionmaking authority is diffuse and often opaque, and the country faces an uncertain transition as the revolutionary generation that fought for independence from France in the mid-20th century continues to age. Small strikes and protests arise frequently over socioeconomic issues. The State Department's human rights report cites official corruption as a key issue. Politics President Bouteflika was first elected in 1999 with military backing, as Algeria's decade-long counterinsurgency against armed Islamist groups was winding down. He has advanced reconciliation initiatives and sought to consolidate executive powers under the presidency, in part by asserting greater control over the army and powerful military intelligence service. Bouteflika last won reelection in 2014 with 82% of the vote. Top opposition candidate Ali Benflis, a former prime minister, decried the 2014 results as fraudulent; to some, the results reflected Bouteflika's enduring popularity. Experts nonetheless have pointed to political paralysis due to a lack of elite consensus over the general outline of the post-Bouteflika era. The bicameral parliament is institutionally weak and dominated by two parties supportive of Bouteflika: the National Liberation Front (FLN), which led Algeria's fight for independence and was the sole legal party for decades, and the National Rally for Democracy (RND). The political opposition is diverse and divided, comprising leftist, Islamist, Berber-led, and regionally focused groups. Many parties-including the FLN-also exhibit internal divisions. Some analysts argue that political Islam has been discredited in Algeria due to Islamists' role in the 1990s civil conflict, or-alternatively-due to some Islamist politicians' subsequent accommodation with the state. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), whose rapid electoral gains in 1991 sparked a military coup and the subsequent conflict, remains banned. Religiously conservative Salafist social movements have grown in prominence since the conflict. Figure I. Algeria at a Glance Population: 41.7 million Ijij Languages: ArVabic (official), Fr-ench, Berber dialects Religions: Muslim (official, predom.{ LEI ~W Sunni) 99,other < 1% (2012) Life Expectancy: 77 years Population Under 24 Years Old: 45% N Literacy: 80% (2015) GDP: growth rate 2.5%; per capita $4,450 Unemployment: 116% Exports: petroleum, natural gas, and petroleurn products Imports: capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods Source: CRS graphic; data from CIA World Factbook + IMF (2018). Terrorism and Counterterrorism Internal security has improved markedly since the civil conflict of the 1990s. Terrorist threats persist, particularly in southern and eastern border regions, but the pace of attacks has decreased since 2013, when 39 foreign nationals (including three Americans) were killed during an Islamist militant assault on a natural gas compound. More recent attacks have targeted security force outposts near the eastern border with Tunisia, where small cells linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) reportedly remain active. Since the start of wars in Libya and Mali in 2011, Algerian security forces have bolstered their presence in border regions and conduct frequent counterterrorism operations. The government also runs de-radicalization programs and has sought to control the content of religious sermons. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a regional network and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is the offshoot of an insurgent faction from Algeria's 1990s conflict. An AQIM splinter faction claimed responsibility for the aforementioned 2013 gas plant attack. AQIM's leader or emir, Abdel Malek Droukdel, reportedly remains based in Algeria's mountainous northeast, but the group's center of gravity has moved south into Mali over the past decade. (Since 2017, AQIM's southern branch has been subsumed under a Mali-based jihadist coalition known as the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims, or JNIM after its transliterated Arabic name.) AQIM elements and offshoots are also active in Libya and Tunisia, as are IS- linked factions. In 2014, an Algerian IS affiliate beheaded a French tourist. Algerian security forces reportedly killed the faction's leader the following year and they appear to have been effective in preventing the further spread of IS-linked groups within the country. Algerian foreign fighters were reportedly prominent within Islamist militant groups in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq from the 1980s to 2000s. At the height of IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria (2014-2015), however, relatively