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A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 12 december 2019
Algeria election may bring new era or continued protests

By AOMAR OUALI been pummeled with in-
ELAINE GANLEY sults during their public
Associated Press appearances, cancelled
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Al- rallies and avoided regions
geria’s powerful army chief known for their hostility to
promises that a presiden- the political elite.
tial election on Thursday Army Chief of Staff Ahmed
will define the contours Gaid Salah has emerged
of a new era for a nation as the leading authority fig-
where the highest office ure inside the power vacu-
has stood vacant for eight um created by Bouteflika’s
months. The tenacious pro- ouster. He orchestrated the
democracy movement election, including its date.
which forced leader Ab- Taking its cue from Gaid
delaziz Bouteflika to resign Salah, the interim govern-
after 20 years in power ment has also promised a
doesn’t believe the claim new era for the North Af-
and is boycotting the vote. rican nation. To show the
At stake in the election is military was in step with the
whether Africa’s largest democratic times, soldiers
country, rich with oil and were told to vote like other
gas and a strategic part- civilians, at polling stations
ner of the West in counter- and in civilian clothes.
ing terrorism, will get a fresh In this Dec. 6, 2019 file photo, people demonstrate with anti-election posters in Algiers. “The presidential elec-
start with its next head of Associated Press tions will trace the con-
state, remain paralyzed tours of the new Algerian
by protests or suffer worse Weekly anti-government launched an anti-corrup- against the state.” state,” Gaid Salah said in
under a president lacking protest marches that start- tion drive that secured The five presidential can- a speech this week, while
popular legitimacy. ed in February eventu- convictions of some of the didates, among them two warning that anyone try-
The situation is remarkable ally forced Bouteflika from country’s most powerful fig- other former prime minis- ing to trouble the voting
in a country where the power, and activists have ures, including Bouteflika’s ters, are all linked to the would face “the force of
previous presidents were continued pressing their brother. Said Bouteflika ran system the pro-democ- the law.” Police intervened
generals or, like Bouteflika, demands with peaceful the former president’s inner racy protesters want to with tear gas and water
have had the blessing of demonstrations marked by circle, dispensing political bury. The candidates have cannon to hold back pro-
the army brass since Alge- scores of arrests. and financial largesse to been at pains to draw testers as former Prime Min-
ria gained independence In a nod to the public the favored. He was sen- crowds of supporters dur- ister Ali Benflis held a cam-
from France in 1962 after a dissent, the interim gov- tenced in September to 15 ing the 22-day campaign paign rally in Bouira, east of
brutal seven-year war. ernment that took over years in prison for “plotting period. Instead, they have the capital.q
Egypt urges decisive action against states backing ‘terror’

the southern city of Aswan, Egypt has been centered ferring to an international
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also on the Sinai Peninsula, as summit in Berlin that aims
said achieving sustainable well as in the country’s vast to reach agreement
development in Africa is Western Desert, which has on an outline of actions
needed, along with efforts witnessed deadly attacks needed to end the con-
to fight militant groups in blamed on militants infil- flict. The conference had
Egypt and sub-Saharan trating from neighboring been scheduled for Octo-
countries. Libya. ber but it has apparently
“There should be a de- Since Morsi’s ouster, ten- been postponed.
cisive response to coun- sions have grown between After the 2011 civil war
tries supporting terrorism Egypt and Turkey and that ousted and killed
and a collective response Egypt and Qatar. The po- long-time dictator Moam-
against terrorism, because litical party of Turkish Presi- mar Gadhafi, Libya de-
the terrorist groups will only dent Recep Tayyip Erdo- scended into chaos and
have the ability to fight if gan is an offshoot of the split in two, with a weak
In this Sept. 24, 2019 file photo, Egypt’s President Abdel they are provided with fi- Muslim Brotherhood, which U.N.-supported adminis-
Fattah el-Sisi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations nancial, military and moral Cairo designated as at ter- tration in Tripoli oversee-
General Assembly. support,” he said. rorist group in 2013. ing the country’s west
Associated Press Egypt has for years been El-Sissi also said a “com- and a rival government in
battling an Islamic State- prehensive, political solu- the east aligned with the
BY SAMY MAGDY Turkey and Qatar, who led insurgency that intensi- tion would be achieved Libyan National Army led
Associated Press back the Muslim Brother- fied after the military over- in the coming months” for by Gen. Khalifa Hifter.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s hood group, which is out- threw an elected but di- the conflict in Libya, which Hifter is backed by the
president Wednesday lawed in Egypt. visive Muslim Brotherhood descended into chaos af- United Arab Emirates and
called for “decisive” The three countries also President Muhammad ter the 2011 civil war that Egypt, as well as France
and “collective” action support opposing factions Morsi in 2013 amid mass ousted and killed long-time and Russia, while the
against countries sup- in the war-torn Libya. protests against his brief dictator Moammar Gad- Tripoli-based government
porting “terrorism” in an Addressing a two-day fo- rule. hafi. He did not elaborate. receives aid from Turkey,
apparent reference to rum on peace in Africa in Militant-related violence in El-Sissi apparently was re- Qatar and Italy.q