ALGIERS: Algeria’s prime minister on Monday insisted voters would determine if ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika gets a fifth term at the ballot box, after major protests against his candidacy.
Tens of thousands of people on Friday took to the streets, including in the capital Algiers where demonstrations are forbidden, to vent their ire at Bouteflika’s bid to extend his 20 years in power at elections in April.
Presidential polls “will take place in less than two months, and everyone will make their choice freely,” Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said in televised comments that were the first official reaction to the protests.
“Everyone has the right to support their candidate and be against any other candidate, the ballot box will decide in a peaceful and civilized way.”
Bouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, announced on February 10 that he will run for another term in office.
The 81-year-old leader flew to Switzerland on Sunday for what the presidency called “routine medical checks” ahead of the April 18 vote.
“Thank god the rallies were peaceful, but I urge vigilance” as “calls to demonstrate were from an unknown source,” Ouyahia said.
The premier insisted Bouteflika has pledged to hold a national “conference, unprecedented in the history of Algeria” if he is reelected, where “everything” can be discussed.
“Algeria has been through enough suffering and experienced enough reforms to have the opportunity to choose in peace and quiet,” he said.
The scale of the demonstrations on Friday took many in the North African state by surprise.
A follow-up call for protests by a small opposition group drew hundreds in central Algiers Sunday, but they were met by a heavy police deployment and tear gas.
On Monday around a hundred lawyers protested at court over the fifth term, waving placards that they were “with the people.”
Students have called on social media for fresh demonstrations Tuesday, while teachers and university lecturers have urged their colleagues to join in.
Bouteflika, who has governed Algeria since 1999, was instrumental in fostering peace after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.
The European Union is following developments in Algeria closely and wants to see free elections, Maja Kocijancic, the spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, told reporters in Brussels.
“When it comes to the upcoming elections as for any other partner, we wish this election would allow the citizens to express themselves freely, calmly and in compliance with the democratic framework and the rule of law,” she said.
‘Ballot box’ to decide if ailing Algeria president gets 5th term: PM
‘Ballot box’ to decide if ailing Algeria president gets 5th term: PM
- Presidential polls “will take place in less than two months, and everyone will make their choice freely,” PM Ahmed Ouyahia said
Western medics say Israel is denying access to Gaza over their views
- In December, 37 NGOs were told to cease all operations in Palestinian enclave
- UK Foreign Office: ‘Israel must immediately lift restrictions in line with international humanitarian law’
LONDON: Medics in the UK and US say Israel has denied them entry into Gaza, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
Israel is required under international law to allow entry to the Palestinian enclave for humanitarian aid, but medics have told The Guardian that they believe they have been barred for speaking out about the situation there.
James Smith, an emergency doctor from the UK, said: “I can only assume that it was elements of my public profile, because I’m otherwise a white, middle-class, British man with no Palestinian heritage, no criminal convictions.”
He added: “Not just had I spoken to media outlets but I had spoken in a particular way.”
Smith, who was working with the group Medical Aid for Palestinians, said among Israel’s guidelines for allowing NGOs and other staff to enter Gaza are clauses on calling for or participating in boycotts of the country. “It’s the expression of my politics that must have rattled them,” he added.
Consultant surgeon Khaled Dawas, who traveled to Gaza in 2024, told The Guardian that political views of individuals must be the reason for Israel barring access to Gaza.
“I can’t think of anything else,” he said after he was denied access in August and November last year. “I’m not military. I don’t carry anything. I’m no different to the colleagues who have gone in. The only difference is that they haven’t spoken up as much.”
Chicago-based emergency physician Thaer Ahmad said he was denied access to Gaza on four occasions. He believes that his Palestinian-American identity may have been part of the reason.
“This idea of weaponizing access and weaponizing aid, it’s engrained in all of the decisions that we see are being made in Gaza,” he said.
In August, the World Health Organization said the refusal rates for international medics trying to enter Gaza had risen by 50 percent in the previous six months.
In December, 37 NGOs were informed by Israel that they would need to cease all operations in Gaza despite the humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Among those barred is MAP, which said it had struggled to gain any access to Gaza since September, with no reason given by Israeli authorities.
MAP’s CEO Steve Cutts told The Guardian: “Israel’s deregistration of international NGOs and restrictions on medical personnel are part of a wider pattern of measures that are cruelly blocking humanitarian assistance and obstructing independent medical witnesses.”
Victoria Rose, a plastic surgeon from London who was denied entry in 2025, said: “They don’t want anyone going that knows the system, is useful, that is effective, that’s where it seems to be. I don’t necessarily think they’ve got a handle of what I’ve done or said.”
A petition recently filed in Israel’s Supreme Court on behalf of seven denied access requests into Gaza cited the case of British orthopaedic surgeon Graeme Groom, who said he was denied access to the enclave on three occasions since Oct. 7, 2023, without explanation.
“We think it may be because we are bearing witness to what is happening in Gaza,” he said. “Denying us entry is an extension of the policy which has excluded international journalists, and kills Palestinian journalists.”
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Israel must immediately lift restrictions and allow food, medical supplies and fuel to reach those in desperate need, in line with international humanitarian law.”
