Official: Duration of national service in Algeria curtailed to just one year

The Algerian government has decided to reduce the duration of the national service for young draftees from 18 months to 12 months as part of the ongoing professionalization and modernization of the country’s armed forces.

The announcement was made on Thursday by Bouteflika’s election campaign manager, Abdelmalek Sellal, outside an election rally held in the city of Tiaret in north-western Algeria.

 Abdelmalek Sellal said that such a decision had been taken during a meeting of the council of government in keeping with a decision on the matter by the President of the Republic, Abdellaziz Bouteflika.

 He added that the new draft-law on the national service would safeguard the rights of the young Algerian draftees as their national service period would be duly recorded in their professional career and retirement pension scheme.