ALGIERS: Algeria’s leader declared a three-day period of mourning starting Saturday for former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose 20-year-long rule, riddled with corruption, ended in disgrace as he was pushed from power amid huge street protests when he decided to seek a new term.
Bouteflika, who had been ailing since a stroke in 2013, died Friday at 84. His public appearances had been rare in the final years of his presidency, and he had not been seen since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune took office in late 2019.
Flags are to fly at half-staff during the mourning period, the president’s office said. The honors reflect Bouteflika’s role in Algeria’s brutal seven-year war for independence from France that ended in 1962. Those who fought are considered martyrs today.
The former president’s lawyer, Salim Salim Hadjouti, said Bouteflika was being laid to rest in an official ceremony at El Alia cemetery, in the section where martyrs of the revolution for independence are buried, a special honor.
Since Bouteflika’s death, public television has not shown images of him, a clear sign that authorities prefer not to go overboard with a farewell as the North African nation has turned past the Bouteflika era. Early on in his mandate, Tebboune announced his policy of a “new Algeria.”
Tebboune has led a fight against the corruption, including in the Bouteflika clan as it emerged that a close circle of officials around the president were enriching themselves and allegedly making decisions in the place of the ailing president. Bouteflika’s brother and special counsellor Said was acquitted in January by a military appeals court of allegedly plotting against the army and the state, but faces corruption charges.
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Algeria gives disgraced ex-leader Bouteflika 3-days mourning
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Algeria gives disgraced ex-leader Bouteflika 3-days mourning
- Bouteflika, who had been ailing since a stroke in 2013, died Friday at 84
- Bouteflika's 20-year-long rule, riddled with corruption, ended in disgrace as he was pushed from power amid huge street protests
Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza, health officials say
CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed five Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, health officials said, the latest violence to undermine a four-month-old, US-brokered truce in the enclave.
In Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, an airstrike killed two people who were riding an electric bike, medics said. Later, Israeli drone fire killed a woman in Deir Al-Balah and troops shot dead a man in Khan Younis in the south, they said.
Another man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Jabalia in north Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
The violence came a day after Israeli forces killed four militants in the southern city of Rafah after they emerged from an underground tunnel and opened fire on troops.
Without commenting directly on the four people killed on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had carried out attacks targeting what it described as Hamas militants in response to Monday’s incident in Rafah.
In Gaza City, dozens of Palestinians rallied at the funerals of three people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the area on Monday night.
One body was wrapped in a Hamas green flag, while another had a green Hamas ribbon on his forehead, signaling that the two were members of the militant group.
Reuters was not able to ascertain the identities of those killed.
Trading blame
Israel and Hamas have repeatedly traded blame for violations of the ceasefire deal, a key element of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, the deadliest and most destructive in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The next phase of Trump’s plan involves Hamas disarming, Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Hamas has long rejected calls to lay down its arms and Israeli officials say they are preparing for a return to full-scale war.
At least 580 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire deal was struck, Gaza’s health ministry says. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
The Gaza war started with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people since then, according to Palestinian health ministry data.
In Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, an airstrike killed two people who were riding an electric bike, medics said. Later, Israeli drone fire killed a woman in Deir Al-Balah and troops shot dead a man in Khan Younis in the south, they said.
Another man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Jabalia in north Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
The violence came a day after Israeli forces killed four militants in the southern city of Rafah after they emerged from an underground tunnel and opened fire on troops.
Without commenting directly on the four people killed on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had carried out attacks targeting what it described as Hamas militants in response to Monday’s incident in Rafah.
In Gaza City, dozens of Palestinians rallied at the funerals of three people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the area on Monday night.
One body was wrapped in a Hamas green flag, while another had a green Hamas ribbon on his forehead, signaling that the two were members of the militant group.
Reuters was not able to ascertain the identities of those killed.
Trading blame
Israel and Hamas have repeatedly traded blame for violations of the ceasefire deal, a key element of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, the deadliest and most destructive in the generations-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The next phase of Trump’s plan involves Hamas disarming, Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Hamas has long rejected calls to lay down its arms and Israeli officials say they are preparing for a return to full-scale war.
At least 580 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire deal was struck, Gaza’s health ministry says. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza over the same period.
The Gaza war started with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people since then, according to Palestinian health ministry data.
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