The wave of unrest sweeping the Arab states has unnerved Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Obviously trying to forestall a democratic uprising in his land, Bouteflika has announced he'll be ending his 19-year old state of emergency and extend more political freedoms.
Bouteflika said the government should adopt new measures to promote job creation, a nod to the problem of unemployment which is particularly acute among young Algerians and helped trigger the uprising that ousted the president in neighbouring Tunisia.
The Algerian president also instructed that national television and radio stations -- which are controlled by the state and broadcast almost no voices of dissent -- give airtime to all political parties.
" It is a step in the right direction," Algerian political analyst Mohamed Lagab said of the proposed changes. " (It) shows that Bouteflika has understood how fragile the situation is."
...The state of emergency was introduced in 1992, soon after the authorities annulled a parliamentary election which a radical Islamist party was poised to win.
That led to nearly two decades of armed conflict between Islamist insurgents and security forces which killed an estimated 200,000 people and from which the country, a major oil and gas producer, is still emerging.
Just in case you were wondering, Bouteflika is indeed a geezer, 73-years old, and he's on his third term in what was supposed to be an indefinite run as Algeria's strongman president.
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