Algerian leadership will head off military threat
Subject President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's grip on power in Algeria. Significance In the past three months, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has dismissed ten generals in the armed forces and police. The scale of the turnover is unusual, as is the way in which the changes have been effected. The media have advanced various explanations: a cocaine-smuggling scandal, corruption charges or a routine rotation of officers. Questions have also arisen about what impact the dismissal of powerful security figures might have on the presidency itself, as Bouteflika’s supporters prepare the ground for him to secure a fifth term in an election scheduled for April 2019. Impacts A fifth term for Bouteflika will not lay to rest rivalries among powerful interest groups over the eventual succession. Activists and civil society members will organise more protests to express discontent with the presidency. If the cocaine smuggling claim is true, it may point to mafia-style networks deep within the security establishment.