Algeria: Wanted Trust

ALGERIA

Wanted: Trust

Trust us, say Algerian military leaders.

Military brass in the North African country recently made public promises of stability as the country prepares for the expiration of interim President Abdelkader Bensalah’s three-month term in office on July 9.

“Our goal is to serve the country and to honestly accompany the people, in order to overcome the current crises and to reach the constitutional legitimacy,” Algerian Army Chief Ahmed Gaid Saleh said in an address to officers in Algiers. “We are expecting an understanding that reaches to the level of confidence between the army and the people.”

Elections for a new president had been scheduled for July 4, but were canceled after too few candidates filed to run for office and protests erupted over the election process, Bloomberg explained. Bensalah has yet to set a new date, reported the BBC.

Bensalah, a former parliamentary speaker, replaced former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April. The aging and ailing Bouteflika had run the country for 20 years with the support of the army. But, suffering ill health, he lost the confidence of the military and other elites in the face of widespread protests over youth unemployment, suppression of dissent and other issues.

Now Bensalah is leaving his job as head of state while protesters are also calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui and other Bouteflika appointees, reported the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu. “Thieves, you have destroyed the country,” read the protesters’ banners, according to Al Jazeera. “Algeria is a free and democratic country.”

The activists are serious about change and steadfast in their indignation. “The government ministers installed by the departing Mr. Bouteflika have so little credibility that they are often chased back into their cars by protesters when they try to make official visits,” wrote the New York Times.

Like the generals, civil-society groups that have been active in the protests are also seeking the public trust. They have been meeting to hatch and discuss proposals for the country’s direction as the power vacuum looms, wrote Qantara.de, a joint project of Deutsche Welle, the Goethe Institute and the German-based Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations. Under the autocratic Bouteflika, human rights, anti-corruption and other efforts were in a “state of total disunity,” the activists said.

The anti-Bouteflika forces have scored victories. Prosecutors have jailed two former prime ministers and other officials of the former president’s government amid graft investigations, for example. Also, Algerian parliamentary president Mouad Bouchareb quit Tuesday after protesters, who viewed him as a pillar of the ruling elite, demanded he resign, Al Jazeera reported.

Small victories and big ones aside, the protesters are waiting for the ultimate prize: A leadership they can trust.