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Analyst: Algerian Leader Smart to Lift State of Emergency

   Peter Clottey  February 24, 2011
   Riot  police  officers  detain  a  protester during a demonstration in
   Algiers, February 19, 2011

Photo: AP

   Riot  police  officers  detain  a  protester during a demonstration in
   Algiers, February 19, 2011

   An  official of G-Risk, an international risk assessment organization,
   says  Algerian  President  Abdelaziz Bouteflika was āsmartā in lifting
   the  19-year-old state of emergency, a concession to opposition groups
   aimed at preventing a wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world.

   Claud  Salhani  says  the  governmentās decision to appease opposition
   demands  could  help  prevent  a possible anti-government protest from
   toppling Bouteflika. A presidential order lifted the law Thursday when
   it was published in the government's official gazette.

   āThere is a simple explanation to that; he just has to look around him
   to  see  whatās going on. On the one side, he has Libya and Egypt, and
   Tunisia  on  the  other.  Itās  change  and  adapt  or  face  the same
   consequences as what is going on all around him,ā said Salhani.

   āI think he has learned a lesson, the easy way, letās say, rather than
   wait for the uprising to come to him. He is pre-empting it, which is a
   very smart thing to do.ā

   Ending  the  emergency  powers  was  one  of  the  demands  voiced  by
   opposition  groups  that  have  been  staging  weekly  protests in the
   Algerian capital.

   The  measure  was  imposed  to help authorities combat Islamist rebels
   but,  in  the  past  few  years,  violence has subsided and government
   critics  have  alleged  the  emergency rules are being used to repress
   political freedoms.

   Lifting  the law is one change promised by Bouteflika in the aftermath
   of   weeks   of   anti-government   protests.   Algerians   have  been
   demonstrating their objections to high unemployment and food prices in
   protests  similar  to  those  that  led  to  the  recent ouster of the
   Tunisian and Egyptian leadership.

   Algeria's  military-backed  government  first  imposed  the  state  of
   emergency  on  February  9,  1992, the date marked as the start of the
   country's civil war.

   Salhani  describes  Bouteflikaās  move  as  a  victory  for  both  the
   president and the opposition.

   āOf  course  itās  a victory for the opposition and itās a victory for
   democracy  as  well.  Nineteen years of the state of emergency is more
   than  enough.  If he (Bouteflika) gives the protesters what they want,
   there is no reason for him to step down,ā said Salhani.

   āThe  perfect analogy is what Sultan Qaboos of Oman did in the (19)70s
   when  he  faced  a  rebellion. The rebels had a list of demands, which
   were  very  just;  they wanted schools; they wanted roads; they wanted
   girls  to  go to school; they wanted hospitals, which they didnāt have
   under the old system, and he gave them all of that. And, then he said,
   āNow,  what  are  you rebelling about?ā And the rebellion filtered out
   and died.ā

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