News from Algeria 2008

[Al-khiyal]

L'Etat accorde de nouvelles aides financières aux partis siégeant à l’APN

Samedi 9 aout 2008 -- De l'argent pour les partis politiques siégeant à l’Assemblée populaire nationale (APN). Le gouvernement a décidé de leur accorder une nouvelle subvention de 400.000 dinars par an et pour chaque député élu sur leurs listes, selon une nouvelle disposition inscrite au budget de l'Etat. La mesure, contenue dans la Loi de finances complémentaires pour 2008, qui vient d'être promulguée, vient en appui aux autres dispositifs de financements des partis déjà en place. Cette générosité envers les partis qui siègent à l’APN coûtera 155 millions de dinars à l’Etat.

La nouvelle subvention profitera en premier lieu au Front de libération nationale (FLN), majoritaire à l’APN, avec 136 députés. L’ancien parti unique recevra une subvention annuelle de près de 55 millions de dinars. Il est suivi du RND. Le parti d’Ahmed Ouyahia percevra 25 millions de dinars annuellement pour ses 62 représentants au Parlement. Le parti islamiste d MSP, avec 51 élus, recevra une aide étatique annuelle de 20 millions de dinars. Le Front nationale démocratique (FND), avec un seul élu, recevra une subvention annuelle de 400.000 dinars. Au total, 20 partis politiques sont concernés par cette mesure. Le Front des forces socialistes (FFS), qui a boycotté les législatives de l’année dernière, et les députés indépendants ne sont pas concernés par cette mesure.

[Al-khiyal]

African Union to suspend Mauritania after coup

DODOMA, August 9, 2008 -- The African Union will suspend Mauritania from the bloc following this week's coup in the west African nation, AU president said Saturday.

"The AU will suspend Mauritania's membership until the country returns to constitutional government," said Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, whose country holds the pan-African bloc's rotating presidency.

On Wednesday the former head of Mauritania's presidential guard, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, led a coup against Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi after the president tried to make changes in the military leadership.

The coup had been widely condemned by the international community even though the new military junta promised to quickly hold "fair and transparent" elections.

"The coup is a serious setback for Mauritanians because it has robbed the people of their basic right to freely elect leaders of their own choice," said Membe, who is also the chairman of the AU's council of ministers.

Friday saw hundreds of people turn out for an anti-coup rally on the streets of the capital Nouakchott as mediators from the AU and the Arab League scrambled to avoid a prolonged crisis in the nation of 3.1 million people.

Abdallahi became Mauritania's first democratically elected president last year after a period of transition supervised by a military council that deposed the previous president in a bloodless coup in August 2005.

On Thursday, the AU condemned the coup and called for a "return to constitutional order and the re-establishment without delay of the institutions that the Mauritanian people have democratically chosen."

The AU statement added that suspension of Mauritania would be in line with the provisions of the body's constitution under which suspension is automatic until the restoration of "constitutional order."

The largely desert country has a history of coups since its independence from France in 1960.

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Ousted Mauritania president to remain captive

DUBAI, August 9, 2008 -- Mauritania's coup leader has vowed to keep ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi captive until further notice for security reasons, according to an interview published on Saturday.

"We will not release the ousted president at the moment for security reasons. We are trying now to establish calm and de-escalate the situation," General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz told the Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat in a telephone interview.

He said that Abdallahi, ousted on Wednesday, was being held in good conditions and that the junta will decide his fate after establishing order.

"The former president is fine and in good health. He has no problems. There is a new authority - the state's supreme council, which will look into the case of the president dossier after putting the country's internal affairs in order. This will take some time," he said.

Although the new junta promised on Thursday to hold presidential elections after the "shortest possible period," Aziz failed to commit to a date.

"It is difficult to give a set date for the presidential elections at the moment because we are addressing the priorities of the country and the needs of the people which were long ignored by the former president," he told the paper.

Abdallahi, 71, was overthrown after he tried to sack Aziz and other senior army officers.

On Thursday security sources said he was being held at the headquarters of the presidential guard, and on Friday he was reported to have been moved to a secure villa.

The west African desert nation is no stranger to coups since it gained independence from France in 1960. Abdallahi's election was hailed as a model of democracy for Africa, following a three-year transition after a bloodless coup in August 2005.

The coup triggered international condemnation, with the United States urging the release of Mauritania's leaders and the European Union threatening to cut off aid.

[Al-khiyal]

Huit morts et 19 blessés dans un attentat suicide près de Boumerdès

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria suicide bomb kills 8: report

[Al-khiyal]

Quatre militaires égorgés à un faux barrage près d’Oum El-Bouaghi

[Al-khiyal]

Bouteflika est arrivé en Iran pour une visite d'Etat

Dimanche 10 Août 2008 -- Le président Abdelaziz Bouteflika est arrivé dimanche à Téhéran pour une visite d'Etat commençant officiellement lundi et prévue pour durer deux jours, a annoncé l'agence iranienne Irna. Elle répond à celle qu'avait effectuée son homologue iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad en Algérie en août 2007. La présidence algérienne avait expliqué mercredi que ce déplacement "s'inscrit dans le cadre du renforcement de la coopération bilatérale et de la concertation entre les deux pays sur les questions régionales et internationales d'intérêt commun". Des accords douaniers et sur les régimes fiscaux vont être signés à cette occasion, a dit l'ambassadeur iranien en Algérie, Hossein Abdi Abyaneh, dans une interview au quotidien gouvernemental iranien Iran, publiée dimanche. M. Bouteflika, qui s'est déjà rendu à Téhéran en octobre 2003, doit rencontrer, outre M. Ahmadinejad, le guide suprême l'ayatollah Ali Khamenei et le président du Parlement Ali Larijani.

[Al-khiyal]

Un barrage de police à Tigzirt, près de Tizi-Ouzou, ciblé par deux bombes