Newly re-elected Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took the oath of office on Monday, embarking on a second term that he said will be devoted to the quest for ”true national reconciliation” in war-torn Algeria. The president’s landslide re-election is attributed largely to the ”civil reconciliation” plan he unveiled in 1999.
On the eve of what is shaping up as the most democratic presidential election to date to be held in Algeria, the press and three of the six candidates in the polls on Wednesday accused the incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika of plotting to steal the vote. Candidates agree that a first-round victory by Bouteflika would raise suspicions.
For the first time since independence more than four decades ago, many Algerians felt their vote could make a real difference as they mulled Tuesday whether to re-elect President Abdelaziz Bouteflika or throw him out in favour of one of his five challengers.
Rioting broke out on Wednesday when Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took his re-election campaign to this flashpoint city in the restive Kabylie region, homeland of the nation’s Berber minority. Protesters clashed with security forces outside a cultural centre where Bouteflika was holding a campaign rally.
Outbreaks of violence that the Algerian press describes as ”riots” by disaffected youth have broken out in the past few days in several northern cities and towns, newspapers reported on Tuesday. Youths are protesting against unemployment, water shortages and an alleged lack of promised development programmes.
A strong aftershock rocked already quake-ravaged areas of Algeria, collapsing a 15-story building with three people inside and injuring more than 200 others, the interior ministry said.
The stretchers keep coming, bearing bodies out of the rubble left by Algeria’s massive earthquake, adding to a tally of grief and horror that, four days old on Sunday, feels a lot more like rage.