Algeria

After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. The Government of Algeria in 1988 instituted a multi-party system in response to public unrest, but the surprising first round success of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 balloting led the Algerian army to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming power. Fighting escalated into an insurgency, which saw intense violence from 1992-98, resulting in over 100,000 deaths, many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists. Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, with the backing of the military, won the presidency in 1999 in an election widely viewed as fraudulent. Longstanding problems continue to face BOUTEFLIKA, including large-scale unemployment, a shortage of housing, unreliable electrical and water supplies, government inefficiencies and corruption, and the continuing activities of extremist militants.

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Algeria 18.01.2023.pdf