FLAGSHIP NATIONAL PARTY IN TURMOIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001658

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AG
SUBJECT: FLAGSHIP NATIONAL PARTY IN TURMOIL

REF: A. ALGIERS 1629


B. ALGIERS 1559

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Thomas F. Daughton;
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: In the run-up to the November 29 local
elections, the National Liberation Front (FLN) is wrestling
with a crisis of leadership and direction, as party national
leaders battle for control over local candidate slates.
Daily press reports feature repeated calls for Prime Minister
Belkhadem to resign as party leader or as head of the
government. The efforts of the center to assert control over
the periphery are themselves divided, and have even erupted
into physical violence among high-ranking party officials.
Yet the FLN remains the vehicle of choice for the Algerian
government to exercise and consolidate power, and the central
drive to control the periphery may be partly an effort to
pave the way for an unprecedented third term for President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2009 (ref A). Meanwhile, party
headquarters in Algiers is extremely busy, as new and younger
members join and seek local office. For many of these,
however, the FLN is a shell of its former self, gutted by
mismanagement. Their interest is driven less by ideology
than by opportunism, since the FLN remains a powerful symbol
of the nation and therefore offers the best way for new
opportunists to get their hands on political and eocnomic
spoils otherwise out of reach. END SUMMARY.

FISTICUFFS IN ORAN
--------------


2. (C) The leading Arabic daily El Khabar reported on
November 11 the bizarre tale of Abdelhamid Si Affif and
Hassan Tayeb Ibrahim. Affif, president of the foreign
affairs committee of parliament, came to blows with Ibrahim,
a senator, following a press conference held by Affif in
Oran. Affif is know to be a supporter of PM Belkhadem, the
leader of the FLN, while Ibrahim is a prominent figure of
internal dissent within the party known to be critical of
Belkhadem's leadership and more sympathetic to former Prime
Minister Benflis. Abdelhaq Belayat, a member of FLN's
executive secretariat, a former senator, and veteran of the
war for independence, told us November 12 that the press
reports were true, and that both camps were struggling for
control over the region of Oran. Immediately following
Affif's press conference, Ibrahim and his followers began
shouting insults at Affif, which escalated until the two men
and their entourages came to blows. Affif had the upper
hand, as Ibrahim wound up in the hospital with a broken leg.

CENTER "MUST IMPOSE DISCIPLINE"
--------------


3. (C) Belayat made clear his own opposition to the
leadership of Bekhadem, saying that "mismanagement" was
responsible for the current crisis within the party. Belayat
said the center "must impose discipline" after years of
laissez-faire management in order to prevent embarassments
like the scuffle in Oran from erupting in public. According
to journalist Nadia Mellal of the French-language daily
Liberte, Belkhadem is acting as the enforcer for the regime,
atttempting to impose his own candidates and control over
local party activists who resent his intervention. The
problem, explained Mellal, is that the FLN has sacrificed
competence for loyalty as Belkhadem has placed hand-picked
corrupt and inexperienced candidates on local lists, even
including a known former prostitute in one district of
Algiers (ref B). Other factions at the center, especially
the Ibrahim camp, have also been angered by Belkhadem's
choices, and it is this anger that led to the public scuffle
in Oran. A well-connected contact in Oran said that local
branches of the FLN are in revolt against the intervention of
the center, not only because they feel the principle of local
autonomy has been violated but also because of the quality of
the people Belkhadem is seeking to impose. Press reports
over the last two weeks have speculated that Belkhadem's own
tenure at the head of the FLN is in doubt over the internal
party rebellions he has created. "The regime is pushing for
greater control over the regions," summarized our contact in
Oran, "but it still has an interest in imposing competence
and not corruption."


ALGIERS 00001658 002 OF 003


THE PRIZE: A THIRD TERM
--------------


4. (C) Affif himself had lunch with the Ambassador on
November 5, less than a week before his impromptu brawl in
Oran. As reported in ref A, Affif outlined the mission of
the pro-Belkhadem camp within the FLN -- to seed the wilayas
and local election districts with enough loyalists to support
a call for a third term for President Bouteflika. Publicly
it would thus appear that the amendment of the constitution
to make way for Bouteflika's third term was in response to
popular demand, rather than a result of attempts by FLN
hardliners to hold on to power at all costs. Affif conceded
to the Ambassador that he was personally responsible for
managing all of the FLN candidate lists for western Algeria
with this goal in mind.

ABUZZ WITH ACTIVITY AND OPPORTUNISTS
--------------


5. (C) We visited FLN national headquarters on October 23 and
November 12, and observed a high level of activity both
times. On October 23, we met with MP Mohammed Abbou and
Mourad Lamoudi, FLN external relations liaison and executive
committee member. Our meeting was interrupted numerous times
by party loyalists asking questions and seeking guidance, as
the FLN headquarters bustled with a level of activity not
seen at any of the other party headquarters we have visited.
"We know that demographics are changing and we are therefore
engaging a younger generation," explained Lamoudi, as he
highlighted a surge in membership across the country.
Optimistic and serene, he said that what the press had
reported as an internal crisis in leadership was really just
a transition to a new direction and new leadership, as the
FLN sought to pass the torch to younger hands. When pushed
for specifics on the FLN's platform and policies, neither
Abbou, Lamoudi nor Belayat on November 12 had any details to
offer, leaving the impression that the FLN was merely a
vehicle for the exercise of power for its own sake.


6. (C) The new FLN recruits might be younger in many cases,
but they appear to be opportunists rather than reform-minded
idealists. Hamdi Aissa, who met with us on October 1, is a
new member of parliament and chairman of his own oil and gas
pipeline company. Although 48 years old, he said he
considers himself part of a new generation of leaders,
relative to the veterans of the 1950s war for independence
still in power. Aissa viewed his role in parliament as one
that might help change the "socialist mindset" that has
poisoned the business climate. He also said he chose the FLN
not because of ideology, but because it offered the biggest
soap box from which he could promote his agenda. Aissa also
conceded that he was persuaded to join the FLN because Prime
Minister Belkhadem hailed from his hometown. Today, pipeline
company chairman Aissa sits on the parliamentary committee
for energy and industry -- even though he admits that the
majority of his business comes from government contracts with
Sonatrach, the parastatal hydrocarbon giant.

A DINOSAUR WITH NO EXTINCTION IN SIGHT
--------------


7. (C) Journalist Feycal Mentouri of the French-language
daily El Watan echoed what we have heard from present and
former FLN politicos such as Houria Bouhired, who was the MP
for Algiers' Bab el Oued district until May of this year.
According to Mentouri, Algerians are resentful that the
current FLN leadership has gutted such a powerful symbol of
national pride and identity, while they feel protective of
the symbol itself. Bouhired described the FLN as a
"dinosaur" that had probably outlived its life expectancy and
lost touch with its founding ideology. It has simply become,
she said, a front used by the regime to legitimize its naked
pursuit of power. Belayat echoed the same sentiment from
within FLN headquarters on November 12, saying that the FLN
was plagued by "opportunists" seeking to use the party as a
vehicle for personal gain. "Don't worry," Mentouri
concluded, "the FLN is not going anywhere. Too many people
have a stake in it."

COMMENT: THE LEAKING CUP
--------------


ALGIERS 00001658 003 OF 003



8. (C) The FLN is in turmoil, torn by an effort led by
Belkhadem to exercise greater control over the regions at all
cost in order to facilitate a political agenda that may
include a third term for President Bouteflika. The result is
a leadership struggle at the national level against those who
oppose Belkhadem's choices, and another struggle at the local
level as loyalists rebel against the power play from the
center. Our sources agree that the FLN is now merely a
symbol providing cover for the exercise of power and personal
gain, rather than a party with a concrete agenda for
political and economic reform. The FLN, they agree, has long
since lost the ideological substance and credibility it had
after independence, even though it is still led by
individuals from that same generation. A fitting vignette
came from our meeting with Belayat at FLN headquarters on
November 12. He proudly presented a stack of shiny wax paper
cups emblazoned with slick graphics and FLN slogans promoting
the party and agenda. Within minutes of offering us water,
the bottom of the cups soaked through. We were left with a
puddle of water on the table and an embarassed senior FLN
official beside us.
DAUGHTON