After his 2014 re-election Bouteflika overtly favoured an oligarchic elite cultivated by presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika and his allies led by public enemies Ali Haddad and the four Kouninef brothers...
Politics continued during the lockdown including corruption trials in civilian and military courts of oligarchs and other members of the ancien régime including key allies of late military strongman Lt Gen Ahmed Gaïd Salah as well as such fallen luminaries of Bouteflika's rule as ex-premiers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal and business moguls close to Saïd Bouteflika led by Ali Haddad...
But if he is to win over El Hirak he must also revive his reformist credentials; these date back to his brief spell as premier in 2017 when Tebboune led a popular anti-corruption campaign that threatened the elite gathered around presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika (AC Vol 58 No 17 The state stays captured)...
Both Tebboune and long-time human rights campaigner Benflis have enjoyed moments of popular acclaim – Benflis when he tried to reform the moribund FLN and then stood up to Bouteflika in 2004 (AC Vol 44 No 10 Domestic politics at last & Vol 45 No 6 A man for election seasons); Tebboune when he was briefly premier in 2017 before he was sacked after a popular anti-corruption campaign threatened presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika (AC Vol 58 No 17 The state stays captured)...
But now Vice Minister of Defence and Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah has been muscling out Saïd Bouteflika's oligarch allies and is giving the military potentially even greater control over industry...
In the months since February security force décideurs have been toppled along with ex-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika his omnipresent brother Saïd Bouteflika four-time premier Ahmed Ouyahia and a number of crony business kingpins yet Gaïd Salah has not only retained control of the army but has been calling the shots within the interim government and an empowered judiciary (AC Vol 60 No 7 Protests flush out the old guard & Vol 60 No 13 Rounding up unusual suspects)...
Behind them all was presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika also in prison...
Previously untouchable elements of the regime are panicking as political and business networks constructed by presidential brother Saïd Bouteflika unravel...
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