Algeria: Exception in Arab turmoil

ALGIERS -- As the wind of change started to blow across the Arab world, riots also rocked Algeria early this year. Similar to the protests that toppled Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, riots in Algeria were also motivated by social problems, including poor housing, unemployment and lack of medical services. However, Algeria has managed to keep the popular anger under control and avoided to be the next domino to fall.

President spared

Two waves of protests hit Algeria in January and May without, however, mobilizing the entire population. Demonstrators complained about high cost of living and low wages, but they fell short of demanding a change of regime.

"They may be protesting the corruption and the weak purchasing power, but they were not politically motivated", said Abdelhamid Si Afif, a member of the National Liberation Front (FLN), one of the three parties in President Bouteflika's ruling coalition.

Some analysts attribute Algerian's restraint to the charisma of Bouteflika, the leader coming in power in 1999.

"Bouteflika is not Mubarak, Ben Ali, Assad or Gaddafi. He is not hated or resented by the people," said Marwane Ben Yahmed, a columnist with the magazine Jeune Afrique.

"Algerians talk about his health problems and whether he can set sail a ship," said the columnist, referring to the president's charisma.

While admitting the Algerians are "surviving rather than living ", Marwane noted that "the majority of the people do not wish to see the fall of the government, as they don't know who are competent enough to take their place."

Pain from wounds of past

Traumatized by the 1888 revolt and the "Dark Decade" of 1991- 2001, Algeria values peace and stability more than any of its neighbors.

On October 5, 1988, protests erupted across Algeria, giving birth to a new constitution and other political forces in the country. However, the Algerian army annulled the 1991 elections that saw a landslide victory for the Islamist Salvation Front, a move led to a civil war that claimed the lives of 150,000.

Ali Yahia Abdenour, founder of the Algerian Human Rights League, said the tragic events of the 1990s left too bad a scar on Algerians that they "would think twice before taking to the streets."

Head of the Islamic Front for Justice and Development Abdallah Djaballah also thinks that the "wounds from the past" are holding Algerians from staging riots recklessly.

Mohamed Sghir Babes, leader of the National Economic and Social Council, said Algeria is actually "ahead of other Arab countries" in terms of political change, referring to the reforms launched by the government in 2001.

He said, "Algeria felt the need to reform ten years ago, in a bid to improve its governance," which in turn helped to ease the people's discontent with the government.    

Democratic openness

Fearing that the revolts in the region could affect Algeria, President Bouteflika launched a series of measures to reinforce democracy in the North African nation.

On February 3, President Bouteflika announced the lift of the state of emergency that had been in force since 1992, marking the first step toward the consolidation of democracy. Some ensuing measures granted more freedom to the country's political parties, assembles and media.

President Bouteflika has also ordered the drafting of three organic laws related to the electoral system.

An advisory panel on the reforms had held monthlong talks with personalities from different factions on a number of political issues including the amendment of the constitution.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 representatives took part in the first ever conference on civil society, an event aiming to evoke the hard living conditions of the people and to call for the establishment of a democracy that the civil society is part of.

Economic incentives

Thanks to oil wealth, the Algerian authorities have money at their disposal to appease the anger in the street.

Wage hikes and subsidies to staple food are employed to enhance the living standard and financial aid is granted for business development. Applications for funding rose sharply to almost 350, 000 from January to July of 2011, compared to only 30,000 the same period last year.

As for unemployment, an area in which young people are the most affected, the Support Agency for Youth Employment has created a million jobs, allowing the government to stave off the discontent of young people, especially the graduates.

Meanwhile, the government has made efforts to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which, according to head of the Employers Forum Reda Hamiani, combined are the country's largest employer. SMEs also provide 80 percent of the country's non- hydrocarbon value and thus are the best answer to fears of potential slumps in the post-oil economy.

Challenges to stability

Although Algeria did not suffer any revolts on par with those of other Arab countries, significant challenges remain in the way of long-lasting stability.

Firstly, poor housing, which was the major cause to the riots, persists to prevail in the country. Currently, there are still 53,000 dwellings in precarious conditions despite the government's efforts made in the last 20 years.

"If the government succeeded in resolving the housing problems, Algeria would eliminate one of the major destabilizing factors", said a senior official, noting that some Chinese companies have been helping the government deal with the problem.

The second challenge is the massive budget deficit resulted from the practice of enormous subsidies to staple food. Also, the government reserved $297 million as a special fund for appeasing popular anger should the people take to the streets.

Thirdly, the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has left a gap in the sub-Saharan Africa, which could be seized by Al-Qaida to get weapons from the old arsenals of Gaddafi's army and thus causes insecurity in the region.

Whether Algeria can truly survive the tornado of the so-called "Arab Spring" depends on how well it faces up to these challenges, observers say.