في مثل شهر نوفمبر هذا وقبل ثلاثين عاما، استولى زين العابدين بن علي على السلطة في تونس، منهيًا بذلك سيطرة الرئيس المتهالك الحبيب بورقيبة الذي حكم البلاد منذ استقلالها عام 1956. وعد بن علي بتطبيق إصلاحات سياسية تجاوبت معها أطياف عريضة من الطبقة السياسية التونسية بما في ذلك الإسلاميون. غير أنّ تلك الآمال سرعان ما خابت وتلاشت عقب حملة القمع التي تلت الانتخابات العامة لعام 1989 حيث شاركت فيها حركة النهضة بقوائم مستقلة واحتلت فيها المركز الثاني بعد الحزب الديموقراطي الدستوري لبن علي ، ولم يُستثن من القمع اليساريون أيضا. ومع مطلع العام 2011 كان بن علي قد نجح في…
الكاتب: Lakhdar Ghettas
In a recent piece on the detention of Algerian human rights lawyer and opposition figure Rachid Mesli, Robert Fisk asked why Interpol is doing the work of Arab despots. Mesli is the subject of an arrest warrant by the Algerian regime that dates back to 2002. In addition to founding Alkarama (dignity), an organisation that defends human rights in the Arab region, Mesli is co-founder of Rachad, an opposition movement to the Algerian regime. Considering that just three years ago the Algerian regime unsuccessfully tried to have France extradite Dr. Mourad Dhina, also a co-founder of Rachad, through another Interpol…
The ousting of President Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian army is a military coup d’état pure and simple. Morsi’s ousting qualifies for a military putsch which is by definition the illegal removal of the head of the state by the army or a faction within it, or the security services, through the use of force or the threat to using it. Past experiences of military coup d’état such as the toppling of the Mossadegh government in Iran in 1953, Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, and the military putsch in Algeria in 1992 remind us that military coups are never…
L’éviction du président Mohamed Morsi par l’armée égyptienne est un coup d’Etat militaire pur et simple. En effet, cette éviction répond à la définition d’un renversement illégal de la tête de l’Etat par l’armée, une faction interne, ou les services de sécurité, par l’utilisation de la force ou de la menace de l’utiliser. Les expériences passées de coups d’Etats militaires comme le renversement du gouvernement Mossadegh en Iran en 1953, de Salvador Allende au Chili en 1973, ou encore le putsch militaire en Algérie de 1992 nous rappellent que les coups d’Etats militaires ne sont jamais un bon mécanisme pour…
On 10th May the Algerian regime is holding parliamentary elections against a backdrop of a string of strikes, protests, riots, and the spectre of a massive boycott and abstention. In trying to reverse the tide of boycotts the regime exposed its profound anxiety, which was decoded by Algerians as a sign of an acute vulnerability. This unprecedented stand-off between the regime and society is a real nightmare for the secret services (DRS), which hopes to portray the participation in the May elections as a vote of confidence which offers the current regime, amongst other things, legitimacy from abroad The regime’s…
Three major developments marked Algerian affairs in 2011. First, former minister of defence General Khaled Nazzar was arrest in Geneva, in September 2011, to answer human rights and torture charges pressed by TRIAL (Track Impunity Always), an NGO best known for tracking down dictators like Pinochet. Second, Rachad Movement, an Algerian opposition group in exile, launched Rachad TV making it Algeria’s first opposition channel to broadcast to Algerians over the crucial Nilesat satellite, which carries most of the Arab world channels. Rachad TV was soon joined by Al Magharibia TV, a London-based TV focussed on North African affairs, but mainly…
Stonex PhD Coordinator of the Maghreb Studies at the LSE IDEAS Centre for Diplomacy and Strategy. Is the UK making in Algeria the same blunder that France did in Tunisia? In the midst of the general unrest in Algeria, at a time of regional upheavals, and before the so called National Commission for Consultations on Political Reforms (headed by Mr. Abdelkader Bensalah, president of the Senate and General Mohamed Touati) could really kick off the consultation sessions. Mr. Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), with responsibility for the Middle East and North Africa…
“Algeria is ‘sitting on a volcano’.” We will continue to sift for opportunities to support reform, and should be prepared to offer our frank but private opinion of Algeria’s progress along the way”. This was how David Pearce, the former U.S. ambassador to Algiers, concluded his report to the Department of State four days after the April 2009 presidential elections. An election which paved the way for a third term for Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, following an amendment of the constitution, in November 2008, which removed the restriction on only two consecutive mandates. Algerians and close observers of Algerian affairs did…