Algeria's transition from launch mode to cruise mode

[Al-khiyal]

This could well have featured as a headline on Algerian daily El Moudjahid, equivalent of Soviet newspaper Pravda, in the 1970s and 80s. However, today it reflects the reality.

Economically, Algeria is doing better than ever. As oil prices reach record highs, and oil represents almost half of the country's exports, Algeria has something to cheer about. It has accumulated more than 70 billion dollars in foreign currency reserves and has launched last year a sort of national New Deal that include civil works, infrastructures, and housing worth more than 100 billion dollars of public funding. That plan is meant to create jobs in a country that has widespread unemployment especially among the younger populations, as more than 70% of the population is thirty or less, and provide housing to a population that grew 300% since independence from French colonial domination in the early 1960s, experiencing a housing crisis that has deepened since the 1990s. And it doesn't end there.

Algeria has gone a long way over the past couple of decades. The former socialist country had to overcome more than a decade of intensive terrorist attacks that did not spare a single city of the 2.3 million square kilometers state. Adding to terrorism, it had to face economic bankruptcy ever since the 1985 economic crisis, which forced the North African country to renegotiate its huge debt in 1994. Today, although there are still sporadic signs of terrorist attacks, most former terrorists gave up their weapons as they preferred to surrender and benefit from the law that was voted by referendum last year and that grants them conditional amnesty. And economically, last month, Algeria has repaid most of its debt to the Paris club, notably the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden, and is signing multi-million dollar deals with foreign investors in a variety of sectors including agriculture, banking and the gold mining sector. Politically, president Bouteflika announced on July 4 that there would be a referendum on amendments to the Constitution, an announcement that is already causing heated debates within the Algerian population.

What would be Algeria's fifth Constitution is due to be submitted to a referendum “before the end of the year 2006”. The new Constitution would strengthen the separation of powers between the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. There would be a system of checks and balances between the three branches of power, with a stronger executive. The president's powers would be reinforced, which would somehow make the system look like the French constitutional system. However what causes heated debates is the fact that the constitution in itself is not the problem, the major challenge being the application of the constitution. Moreover, some argue that the amendments would allow the president to serve more than two terms, which may make it possible for current president Bouteflika to run for a third term. Therefore, some analysts argue that the Algerian president would write a constitution that would suit him most. However, since no parts of the draft amendments have been made public, let's guard against speculation.

Bouteflika, presidente vitalicio?

The expression comes from when General Pinochet had been granted the status of senador vitalicio or Senator for Life, or when Chilean tennis player Marcelo Rios was nicknamed campeon vitalicio or champion for life when he became world number one in March 1998. Is Bouteflika between the two statuses, as some say he would like to amend the Constitution so that he could run for a third mandate, and why not, become president for life. The Constitution is still to be submitted to a referendum that could be rejected by the population. The new Constitution would also guarantee the president immunity for life. Although Bouteflika is no Pinochet, Algeria being a multi-party system and a country where freedom of the press is guaranteed, such a level of suspicion is not warranted. Although he brought peace to a country torn by terrorism and the North African country's GDP today doubled compared to when he came to power in 1999, his government violently repressed riots in 2001 and 2002, causing more than 50 causalities among rioters, and has been accused of persecuting journalists, although journalists have benefited from amnesty on July 5, Independence Day in Algeria. But one thing is for sure: Bouteflika knows Algeria better than anyone else: he has served in Algerian politics since the country gained its independence from France, holding positions such as Youth and Sports Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, and recently honorary Chairman of the country's still ruling party, the National Liberation Front. The question is to know whether Algerians still want him to be president in 2009. They will decide that when the referendum will be held, and if passed, there will still be presidential elections in 2009 that Abdelaziz Bouteflika will have to win. As Algerians would say, Insh'Allah.

>>>Source<<<

[FORTUNATO]

Bouteflika, presidente vitalicio?

The expression comes from when General Pinochet had been granted the status of senador vitalicio or Senator for Life, or when Chilean tennis player Marcelo Rios was nicknamed campeon vitalicio or champion for life when he became world number one in March 1998. Is Bouteflika between the two statuses, as some say he would like to amend the Constitution so that he could run for a third mandate, and why not, become president for life.

>>>Source<<<

I think he is sick and he even can`t take plane anymore, Well to answer this Question, I say, "FORTUNATLY FOR ALGERIA AND THANKS GOD THERE IS A DEATH...."