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Country : Algeria Official name: Al Jumhuriya al Jazairiya ad Dimucratiya ash Shabiya (Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria) Head of State: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (since 1999; re-elected 8 Apr 2004) Head of government: Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia (named 5 May 2003) Ruling party: Coalition government (elected May 2002) led by the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) (National Liberation Front), Rassemblement National pour la Démocratie (RND) (National Rally for Democracy), El Islah/Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix (MSP) (Movement of the Society for Peace) and the Mouvement de la Renaissance Islamique (MRI) (Islamic Renaissance Movement) Area: 2,381,741 square km Population: 32.16 million (2004) Capital: Algiers Official language: Arabic Currency: Algerian dinar (AD) = 100 centimes Exchange rate: AD72.83 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$1,830 (2003) GDP real growth: 6.70% (2003) Labour force: 9.40 billion (2003) Unemployment: 28.40% (2003) Inflation: 2.60% (2003) Oil production: 1.52 million bpd (2003) Balance of trade: US$8.90 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$21.60 billion (2003)

 

Historical profile

In the seventh century, Arab culture and Islam reached the predominantly Berber peoples of what is now Algeria.

Ottoman proconsuls ruled Mediterranean towns in the sixteenth century, including Algiers. The Berbers kept control of the interior.

1830 France attacked Algiers. Opposition to the French was led by Abdelkader, who effectively established a separate state in western and central Algeria.

1839–44 A French campaign against Abdelkader led to his defeat at Isly near Oujda. Abdelkader surrendered in 1846.

1871 France controlled the whole country and set about removing the local cultural and religious identity. Land was appropriated by European settlers.

1954 The Algerian war of independence began in the Aures mountains, east of Algiers. Opposition to the French was led by the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) (National Liberation Front). Estimates of the number who died over the eight years of revolution range from 300,000 to over one million.

1961 Militant settlers formed the underground Organisation de l'Armée Secrète (OAS) (Secret Army Organisation) and began a violent campaign of reprisals against the nationalists, resulting in extensive destruction of Algeria's economic and social infrastructure.

1962 A referendum on the question of independence for Algeria resulted in a vote of six million in favour (out of a total electorate of 6.5 million) and 16,000 against. Ahmed ben Bella of the FLN was designated Algeria's first president; the FLN was the sole legal party.

1965 Ahmed ben Bella was ousted by Colonel Houari Boumédienne who introduced a programme of industrialisation.

1978–89 After the death of President Boumédienne in 1978, the FLN candidate, Colonel Chadli Benjedid, was elected president of the Republic for a five-year term. He was re-elected in 1984 for a second term and in 1989 for a further term.

1990 The Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) (Islamic Salvation Front) performed well in local elections, defeating the ruling FLN.

1991 The FIS won the first round of the parliamentary elections.

1992 President Chadli resigned. Outbreaks of violence followed the cancellation of the 1991 parliamentary elections which the FIS was poised to win. The five-member Haut Conseil d'Etat (HCE) (High Council of State), instituted after the resignation of President Chadli, was led by Ali Kafi, who was then succeeded by Mohammed Boudiaf as president. The decision to cancel the elections had already been taken before the appointment of President Boudiaf. The FIS was banned.

1995 Liamine Zeroual was elected president in the first multi-party democratic elections.

1997 The Rassemblement Nationale Démocratique (RND) (National Democratic Rally) won the parliamentary elections.

1998 By this time, an estimated 28,000 people had been killed in the campaign of guerrilla warfare against the government conducted by the Armée Islamique du Salut (AIS) (Islamic Salvation Army), the military wing of the banned FIS.

1999 President Zeroual stood down (one year early) and Abdelaziz Bouteflika won the presidential elections.

2000 President Bouteflika appointed Ali Benflis prime minister, replacing Ahmed Benbitour.

2001 There were 60 deaths when young Algerians rioted in Kabylie, the Berber-speaking region. After two years of drought, a month's rain fell in 24 hours and over 600 people died in the floods and thousands lost their homes.

2002 The Berber language, Tamazight, was officially recognised as a national language. Prime Minister Ali Benflis' FLN won the parliamentary elections – the first since 1997 and the second since December 1991; Berber activists in the Kabylie region and several opposition parties elsewhere boycotted the polls.

2003 Prime Minister Ali Benflis was dismissed by the president and Ahmed Ouyahia was named as the next prime minister.

2004 President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected on 8 April.

2005 In January, the head of the AIS, Nourredine Boudiafi was arrested and his deputy killed; the group was declared to be virtually dismantled. The government promised the Berber leaders more investment in the Kabylie region and greater recognition for the Tamazight language.

 

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