Analysis

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has faced multiple crises during his 20-month tenure, but the forest fires ravaging Kabylia to the east of the capital may be the worst yet. According to official sources, the fires have killed 37 civilians and 28 military personnel thus far. They come against a backdrop of three ongoing crises in Algeria, political, economic, and health.

The Makhzen has got to be scrambling. Leaked documents implicate Morocco (among other countries) in an enormous cyber espionage offensive, in which Rabat purchased Israeli technology to hack the mobile phones of thousands of journalists, activists, and foreign officials.

Algeria has a new prime minister. On 30 June 2021, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed former Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor Aymen Benabderrahmane to succeed Abdelaziz Djerad. Benabderrahmane’s appointment was something of a surprise. But only something, because while he was not on anyone’s shortlist, every Algeria analyst knows that the candidate that ultimately gets tapped for the job is never on anyone’s shortlist.

Algeria’s 12 June legislative election did not turn out the way the President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had intended. Instead of marking the final step in a two-year long political transition, the election resulted in the return of the old Bouteflika-era political parties. President Tebboune’s touted “New Algeria” looks an awful lot like the old pre-Hirak Algeria.