Exactly two weeks after taking office, the new Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, appointed his first government on Thursday evening. It is made up of 39 members whose names were given on national television. It is a first, the composition of the government being generally made public by an official communiqué.
The "Hirak" does not seem to be heard
On December 28, the president had appointed Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, a 65-year-old academic, former secretary general of the presidency (1993-1995) and then of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001-2003), and had him charged with constituting a government.
More than a third (11) of the 28 full-time ministers appointed on Thursday were already in the outgoing government or in one of the government teams in the 20 years of presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to resign on April 2 under pressure an unprecedented protest movement (“Hirak”). We are therefore far from the renewal required by this "Hirak" which calls for the dismantling of the "system" ruling Algeria since its independence in 1962.
Sabri Boukadoum thus keeps the Foreign Affairs portfolio, which he was already the holder in the government of Noureddine Bedoui, appointed on March 31 by President Bouteflika, two days before his resignation. Kamel Beldjoud, Minister of Housing in the Bedoui government, becomes Minister of the Interior, a post which he held in office since the dismissal on December 19 of its holder Salah Eddine Dahmoune, guilty of having treated the demonstrators of " Hirak ”of“ traitors, mercenaries, homosexuals ”.
Belkacem Zeghmati, already Minister of Justice in the Bedoui government, also keeps his portfolio, as do Mohamed Arkab for Energy, Chérif Omari for Agriculture and Youcef Belmehdi for Religious Affairs. Tayeb Zitouni keeps his portfolio of Minister of Mujahideen (veterans) whom he has occupied without interruption since 2017.
Abderrahmane Raouya becomes Minister of Finance again, a post he had already occupied between 2017 and the end of March 2019 under Bouteflika's presidency, in the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, sacrificed to try to calm the dispute. Faithful to the ousted president, Ahmed Ouyahia was sentenced in December to 15 years' imprisonment for embezzlement, in the context of extensive investigations into corruption incidents against former senior officials and powerful businessmen close to the government. entourage of the former president.
At least three other ministers: Farouk Chiali (Public Works), Sid Ahmed Ferroukhi (Fishing) and Hassane Mermouri (Tourism), found ministerial posts which they also already occupied under the presidency Bouteflika. Finally, among the 28 other full-time ministers, several senior officials head the ministry in which they officiated. And several portfolios are attributed to personalities from civil society (academics, economists, engineer, doctor, etc.).
No Minister of the Economy
Main notable fact, the government does not have a Deputy Minister of Defense, a post held since 2013 and until his death on December 23, the powerful Chief of the Defense Staff, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah. The President of the Republic is traditionally the Minister of Defense in title in Algeria. He also has no Minister of the Economy, while Algeria suffers from its dependence on oil, whose lasting low prices are straining its budget and drying up its foreign exchange reserves.
The only apparent concession to young people: a "micro-enterprise, start-up and knowledge economy ministry" and two delegated ministries, one responsible for incubators, the other for start-ups, are created. .
Algeria
President appoints academic Abdelaziz Djerad as Prime Minister
Alger
Students demonstrate against power in the aftermath of the death of General Gaid Salah
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