Algeria seeks youth support as Tebboune, 78, seeks reelection

A youth point towards the ports in Algiers, Algeria, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP)
A youth point towards the ports in Algiers, Algeria, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 02 August 2024
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Algeria seeks youth support as Tebboune, 78, seeks reelection

A youth point towards the ports in Algiers, Algeria, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP)
  • There is a big gap between the new generation and the existing political structures, says journalism professor

ALGIERS: A few years after taking to the streets with hundreds of thousands of other Algerians, Kaci Taher says he feels so disengaged that he will not even vote in the country’s presidential elections next month.

The 28-year-old from Kabylia is precisely the kind of voter that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has targeted as he vies for a second term in office, describing himself as a “candidate of youth” in his campaign announcement last month.
Most of the young people who make up more than half of the population in Algeria are so disenchanted that, like Taher, they may not vote in next month’s presidential election.

FASTFACT

Voter turnout has long been low in Algeria, particularly among people under 30, who make up 51 percent of the population, according to the National Statistics Bureau.

Though he is almost certain to win, a low turnout could doubt the legitimacy of Tebboune’s victory.
“Voting has no meaning in Algeria like in the big democracies,” he said.
“Where I come from, the results and quotas are fixed in advance in the back room of the government, so what’s the point of taking part in the electoral farce?”
Taher said he is politically suffocating and has little confidence in elections securing the type of democratic outcome that people demanded in 2019.
In that year, massive street protests throughout the country known as the Hirak led to the ouster of octogenarian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after two decades leading Algeria, Africa’s largest nation by area and a key security partner for Western nations.
Like many young people in Algeria, Taher struggles with unemployment, boredom, and malaise.
Voter turnout has long been low in Algeria, particularly among people under 30, who comprise 51 percent of the population, according to the country’s National Statistics Bureau.
Though little data exists on why people in Algeria abstain from voting, experts say that the aging political elite — including politicians who wrested independence from France more than 60 years ago — are not reaching young people.
“There is a big gap between the new generation and the existing political structures — political parties and institutions,” said Redouane Boudjema, a professor at the Algiers Institute of Journalism who has researched youth and social movements.
“Young people no longer identify with the political elites who occupy the public arena.”
Hirak activists like Taher were disappointed when authorities called for quick elections amid protests in 2019. The timeline, demonstrators said, offered little opportunity to reach a consensus on deep reforms, allowing then-74-year-old Tebboune, seen as close to the military, to win in a low-turnout race.
Journalists have faced prosecution throughout his tenure, and the economic challenges afflicting many of the country’s 45 million people have persisted.
The government has juggled competing priorities, trying to combat inflation while maintaining state spending, subsidies, and price controls that keep people afloat.
Tebboune continues to refer to the Hirak movement in speeches in which he overtures disaffected Algerian youth, claiming their voices have been heard and changes implemented.
Now 78, Tebboune is among dozens of leaders far older than most voters scheduled to cast ballots in more than 50 countries this year. In addition to leaders like 81-year-old US President Joe Biden, the discrepancy is particularly pronounced in Africa, the world’s youngest continent home to 11 of the world’s 20 oldest heads of state.
This year’s analysis from the Pew Research Center concluded that countries classified as “not free,” like Algeria, tend to have older leaders.
Tebboune’s changes include the establishment of a national youth council to advise the government to better integrate young people into politics, an electoral law requiring parties to put forth younger candidates, and interest-free loans for tech start-ups.
“Algeria belongs to everyone, and young people must live its present, build its future, get involved in the political process, and leave their mark,” Mustapha Hidaoui, the youth council president, said last month.
But despite an earnest effort from Tebboune and other government officials, the question of whether young people will be persuaded to vote in the election remains to be seen.
If not, there are fears about increasing Algerians voting with their feet.
More than 100 makeshift boats have traversed the Mediterranean Sea from Algeria to southern Spain’s coast this year, according to Francisco Jose Clemente Martin, an active member of the International Center for Migrant Identification.
“Algeria’s over. We’re leaving it to you. Adios!” a group of young Algerians packed into a crowded boat say in a video that has gone viral on social media.

 


Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
Updated 12 sec ago
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Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
ANKARA: Turkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.
“We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.
“Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too,” he added.
On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.
Strains in US-Turkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Washington’s main ally against Islamic State in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.
NATO member Turkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.
Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had “thwarted attempts to surround” it from the southern borders, and Turkiye was determined to “completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations.”
“God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period,” he said.
In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after a decade of animosity.
Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
Updated 38 min 51 sec ago
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Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
  • Overnight strikes kill at least 11, as Israeli tanks push into central Gaza
  • Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center

CAIRO: Israeli forces sent tanks into the western side of Gaza’s Nuseirat camp on Monday in a new incursion into the enclave’s central area, and Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes had killed at least 11 people since Sunday night.
Residents said Israeli tanks opened fire as they rolled into that sector of the camp, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee sites, causing panic among the population and displaced families.
One resident, Zaik Mohammad, said the tanks’ advance was a complete surprise.
“Some people couldn’t leave and remained trapped inside their homes, appealing to be allowed out, while others rushed out with whatever they could carry as they fled,” Mohammad, 25, who lives one kilometer away from the targeted area, told Reuters via a chat app.
With the war in Gaza now in its 14th month, Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center in what it says is a campaign to stop Hamas militants waging attacks and to prevent them from regrouping.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian residents have been told to evacuate the areas, fueling fears that they may never be allowed to return.
The already slim chances of a ceasefire receded further at the weekend when mediator Qatar said it was suspending its efforts until both Israel and Hamas showed greater willingness to reach an agreement.
In attacks overnight and into Monday, medics said seven people were killed in Nuseirat in two separate Israeli airstrikes, one that hit a tent encampment.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli forces have operated since Oct. 5, medics said four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, medics said Israeli fire from a drone wounded three medical workers in the facility.
There was no Israeli comment on Monday’s violence.
The Israeli military said it killed a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, Mohammad Abu Skhail, in a strike on Saturday at a command center inside a compound that previously served as a school in Gaza City. Palestinian medics said the attack killed six people.

Hospital Siege
Israeli forces have besieged the three hospitals in and around Jabalia for several weeks and hospital officials have refused orders to evacuate the facilities or leave their patients unattended despite the lack of food, medical, and fuel supplies.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of exploiting Gaza’s civilian population for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.
The army sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia camp in northern Gaza over a month ago. It said it had killed hundreds of militants in Jabalia and around it since the raids began.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters carried out ambushes, mortar fire, and anti-tank rocket attacks, claiming to have killed many Israeli soldiers in recent weeks.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had expanded the “humanitarian zone” in the enclave. It also said it would allow more tents, shelter materials, food, water, and medical supplies to enter.
Its forces “will continue to work to achieve the war’s objectives, including dismantling Hamas and returning all the abductees,” it said.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, home to more than 2.1 million people and now largely in ruins.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has leveled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say.


Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire
Updated 55 min 6 sec ago
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Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday said there had been “certain progress” on a ceasefire in Lebanon after the Israeli army launched an operation in the country targeting Hezbollah.
“There is certain progress,” Saar said in response to a question about a possible ceasefire. “We are working with the Americans on the issue,” he told reporters in Jerusalem.


Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs
Updated 30 min 8 sec ago
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Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media on Monday reported an Israeli strike on a village near the city of Homs, a day after a deadly strike on a building in the Damascus area.
“An Israeli aggression” targeted the “surroundings of the Shinshar region south of Homs,” state news agency SANA said, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a Hezbollah munitions warehouse.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported  that Syria’s main Homs-Damascus highway is temporarily cut off after strike targeted an aid gathering center for displaced Lebanese south of the city of Homs.
 


Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
Updated 11 November 2024
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Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
  • Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranian

DUBAI: Iran’s foreign ministry is aware of reports about the arrest of Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster, was believed to have been detained by Iran for some months.
“We are aware of reports regarding the arrest of one Iranian national, he is an Iranian national and I do not have information on his second citizenship. We are in contact with relevant institutions to follow up on the case,” Baghaei said when asked about Valizadeh in a press conference.
Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranians.
The US State Department had earlier acknowledged the imprisonment of Valizadeh, who previously worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media.