ALGIERS — Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who
ruled Algeria for two decades before resigning in 2019 under pressure from huge
street protests, has died aged 84, leaving behind mixed reactions.
اضافة اعلان
The former strongman quit office in April
2019, having been abandoned by the military following weeks of demonstrations
over his bid to run for a fifth presidential term.
He had since stayed out of the public eye at
a residence in western Algiers.
The announcement of his death late Friday
triggered muted reactions in the North African country, reflecting his absence
from the public eye.
A statement from his successor Abdelmadjid
Tebboune noted
Bouteflika's past as a fighter in the war for independence from
France and said flags would be lowered to half-mast for three days to honor
him.
But on the streets of the capital Algiers,
many residents told AFP the once-formidable president would not be missed.
"Bless his soul. But he doesn't deserve
any tribute because he did nothing for the country," said greengrocer
Rabah.
There was no immediate word from authorities
on arrangements for Bouteflika's funeral.
Algerian media reported it would take place
on Sunday at the El-Alia cemetery, east of the capital, where his predecessors
and other independence fighters are buried.
But preparations for a state funeral also
appeared to be under way around the Palais du Peuple, an official building in
central Algiers.
'Absolute president'
Bouteflika became president of Algeria in
1999 as the former French colony emerged from a decade of civil war between
Islamists and the army that killed nearly 200,000 people.
He went on to be elected to three more
consecutive five-year terms, the latest in 2014.
Dubbed "Boutef" by Algerians, he
won respect as a foreign minister in the 1970s and then for helping foster
peace after the civil war, notably with an amnesty law that prompted thousands
of Islamist fighters to hand in their weapons.
Journalist Farid Alilat, who has written a
biography of Bouteflika, says that at the height of his rule in the early
2000s, the president had "all the levers of power".
Crucially, he was backed by the army and the
intelligence services.
"He became an absolute president,"
Alilat told AFP.
Algeria was largely spared the wave of
uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2011, with many crediting still-painful
memories of the civil war — as well as a boost in state handouts — for keeping
a lid on tensions.
But Bouteflika's rule was marked by
corruption, leaving many Algerians wondering how a country with vast oil wealth
could end up with poor infrastructure and high unemployment that pushed many
young people overseas.
On the streets of Marseille, the home city in
France of a large community of Algerian origin, some residents had praise for
the long-serving president.
"He fought the fundamentalists, the
terrorists (in the 1990s). He did a lot. He brought peace with the amnesty. To
be fair, ... he's a president who did a lot for Algeria and I pay tribute to
him," said resident Hamid.
Ill health and protests
In his later years, Bouteflika's ill health
started weighing on his credibility as a leader.
Despite suffering a mini-stroke in April 2013
that affected his speech and forced him to use a wheelchair, he decided to seek
a fourth mandate.
His bid in 2019 for a fifth term sparked
angry protests that soon grew into a pro-democracy movement known as
"Hirak".
When he lost the backing of the army, he was
forced to step down.
The Hirak protests continued, with demands
for a full overhaul of the ruling system in place since Algeria's independence
from France in 1962.
Some key Bouteflika-era figures were
eventually jailed in corruption cases, including Bouteflika's powerful brother
Said.
Bouteflika's successor Tebboune was elected
in late 2019 on a record low turnout, with the Hirak calling for a boycott.
But the protest movement was suspended
because of the coronavirus pandemic and has struggled to regain momentum as the
government cracks down on opposition.
With the Bouteflika-era old guard still
largely ruling the country, his legacy is mixed.
For analyst Hasni Abidi, despite his long and
undisputed stretch in power, Bouteflika failed to enact "any political,
institutional or economic reform".
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