De Villepin: “Algeria Enters A Third Historic Stage After Independence”

Former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique De Villepin stated that Algeria will witness a third transition period after the liberation war and the “black decade” to embark during the year 2019 upon the stage of changes.
“Algeria has been living since 22 February 2019 in the throes of a new political struggle, against the backdrop of peaceful popular demonstrations across the country, in protest against the candidacy of incumbent President Bouteflika for a fifth term,” said De Villepin, a friend of Algeria, in an interview with France’s news agency AFP.

With the rejection of the “extension” of the fourth presidential mandate, after Bouteflika decided to reverse the progress of five new years at the helm of the country, this is to be added to the twenty years in which the country was ruled, he argued.

“One month was enough for the Algerian authorities to announce a new transitional period in the age of Algeria, the third since the independence of Algeria in 1962, two of which are the decisive turning points in the history of this influential Arab country,” he added.

“After the liberation war and its entry into the stage of independence, the second stage was the black decade of the terrorism scourge, which constituted the most dangerous period in the history of Algeria, during which the institutions of the state virtually collapsed, along with the country’s economy, and steeped the country into its worst security, political and economic crisis”, Mr De Villepin asserted.

This was followed by the large-scale popular movement against Bouteflika’s candidacy, after the latter’s 20 years of rule.

“All the crises we are talking about today notably in Algeria, Venezuela, France or Great Britain have a common factor,” he explained.

“That’s why we bet on Algeria for a salutary change,” he said. The aim is to pave the way for the people to trust their own leaders to prepare a response for the fostering of a new order in the country,” he also noted.
This friend of Algeria also urged French President Emmanuel Macron not to interfere in the internal affairs of Algeria and to let its own affairs unfold smoothly.

He further stressed that the ongoing situation in Algeria is intricate, because “the standing demands of the Algerian people are all about changing the country’s constitution and the regime all together.”