Western Sahara - Is Algeria's Perceived Weakness Its Strength? - Robert M. Holley

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The city streets in Algeria are once again full of protesters. It is not the cost of living or the lack of employment opportunities for youth that has the crowds singing anthems and carrying signs. It is the idea of a fifth term as president for an enfeebled and seriously diminished Abdelaziz Bouteflika that has the demonstrators demanding change. Since his medical emergency in 2013 when he was hospitalized at Val de Grace in Paris following what was reported to have been a severe stroke, the 82 year-old Bouteflika has been only sporadically seen in public and is confined to a wheel chair, reportedly with only limited capacity to speak or write.

"Le Pouvoir," as the political leadership of the country is collectively and commonly known, is reportedly divided both within and among its various opaque cliques, none of which alone seems to have sufficient clout to impose a successor to Bouteflika. Competition for the succession has been underway and roiling Algeria's political elites for years. No compromise candidate has emerged, other than the current unpopular attempt to maintain the status quo and back Bouteflika for another term of office. No other candidate has sufficient support from enough of the various cliques that govern the country, and it is clear that "Le Pouvoir" is not about to allow the issue to be settled in anything like a free and fair election. The last time they tried that in 1991 it resulted in a bloody civil war that claimed more than 250,000 lives and lasted the better part of a decade. An older generation remembers the carnage and that may account for the peaceful behavior of the mostly young people who are in the streets today.

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