Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ALGIERS1296
2008-12-15 07:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

ALGERIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS ON BOUTEFLIKA AND

Tags:  PREL PGOV KDEM OREP PBTS MO AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6737
INFO RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0789
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 1131
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 9125
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6584
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2956
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2611
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7470
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0528
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001296 

CODEL
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM OREP PBTS MO AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS ON BOUTEFLIKA AND
WESTERN SAHARA

REF: A. ALGIERS 1288

B. ALGIERS 1280

Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001296

CODEL
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM OREP PBTS MO AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS ON BOUTEFLIKA AND
WESTERN SAHARA

REF: A. ALGIERS 1288

B. ALGIERS 1280

Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Parliamentarians told Codel Hastings on
December 2 that they believed the international community
must play a greater role in resolving the Western Sahara
question and that a third term for President Bouteflika is
necessary for the well-being of Algeria. The Minister of
Parliamentary Affairs also explained how his ministry
functions and extolled the virtues of Algeria's multiparty
system (an explanation that actually served to highlight the
relative weakness of the legislative branch in Algeria, even
as the former prime minister told the Ambassador that
legislative reform aimed at strengthening the parliament are
on the horizon, ref A). Rep. Hastings engaged the Algerians
on the issue of international election observers (ref B),and
pressed them to find a way to move forward on the question of
Western Sahara. He also invited parliamentarians to future
meetings of the OSCE, and said that he would urge Senator
Hillary Clinton and Governor Bill Richardson, assuming they
are each confirmed for cabinet positions, to the region to
help boost relations in the Maghreb. END SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
DEAR LEADER, OR WHY ALGERIA STILL NEEDS BOUTEFLIKA
-------------- --------------


2. (C) With reverence reminiscent of official statements from
North Korea, parliamentary leaders who met with Congressman
Alcee Hastings on December 2 extolled the virtues of their
president, and reiterated why the leading parties had
recently met to ask Bouteflika to run for a third term.
Abdelaziz Ziari, president of the Popular National Assembly
(APN) and a ruling FLN party loyalist, noted that a majority
of parliament, including among opposition parties, voted in
favor of the constitutional change that will allow Bouteflika
to stand for a third term. Ziari said that Bouteflika had
the experience, skills and trust of the people that were
needed to maintain stability in Algeria. "The people wanted

this," he said, quickly adding, "perhaps not all of the young
people, but everyone knows it is necessary."


3. (C) Abderezak Bouhara, vice president of the Council of
the Nation (also called the Senate, the upper house of
parliament) and an FLN elder statesman, cast Bouteflika in an
odd, patriotic-reformer light. Bouhara began by saying the
constitutional amendments were no surprise; they had been
discussed since Bouteflika first took office. He said recent
"important events" have made the changes urgently necessary,
and tried to portray them as "a step toward reform." But, he
added, change in Algeria "must be done quietly." Bouhara
praised Bouteflika's "rich experience developed since the
national revolution," and cajoled his colleagues in the room
to agree that the president was a reformer who liked to
"break taboos." Bouhara proffered that the ruling coalition
of parties "insist that he runs, and we hope from the bottom
of our hearts that he does."

--------------
AN ODD LESSON IN MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY
--------------


4. (C) Rep. Hastings also met Minister of Parliamentary
Relations Mahmoud Khedri, who explained his function as
"defending the interests of parliament before the Council of
Ministers, and defending the interests of government before
the parliament." But he highlighted that, in fact, he is a
member of the government and has sole responsibility for
coordinating relations between the government and the
parliament. Khedri began the meeting on the defensive,
saying "no country has paid the price for democracy as has
Algeria." He claimed that the international community
abandoned Algeria during its struggle against terrorists in
the 1990s, and that countries like the United States actually
harbored Algerian terrorists under the guise of human rights
and asylum. He said that it was not until after September 11
that the world came to appreciate Algeria's struggle against
terror.


5. (C) Khedri explained how multiparty democracy works in

ALGIERS 00001296 002 OF 003


Algeria, stating that there were 27 recognized political
parties and 85,000 approved associations. He asserted that
the legislative branch controlled the work of the executive
and provided a check on executive power. But he added that
the parliament's power to question the executive branch was
executed literally by submitting a list of questions. Khedri
repeatedly skirted Rep. Hastings' question as to whether
parliamentarians hired staff to carry out legislative work.
Eventually he admitted that MPs did not have staff, but all
of parliament had access to a team of "legislative
technicians." Khedri also noted, however, that he managed a
staff of 130.


6. (C) Khedri discussed at length how it was impossible for
small Algerian parties to claim fraud or injustice in the
political system when there were 22 parties and one
independent represented in the upper house alone. In
addition to denying the effectiveness of election monitors
(ref B),he also challenged complaints by small parties in
recent elections that they had not had access to full
candidate lists. Khedri claimed that under the 2004 election
law, personal information provided to election authorities is
considered protected for privacy and security reasons.
Therefore, he said, it was impossible for authorities to
release all of the election lists, because those lists
include personal data such as addresses and family
information. He concluded by pointing out to Rep. Hastings,
a former judge like Khedri, that the 2004 election law also
placed provincial oversight in the hands of judges rather
than political committees. This eliminated the chance of
fraud, he told the Congressman, "because as you and I both
know, there is no place for fraud in the judiciary."

--------------
WESTERN SAHARA: WE CAN'T DO IT ALONE
--------------


7. (C) Representatives of both houses of parliament pressed
Rep. Hastings on the issue of the Western Sahara. APN
President Ziari said that the dispute was not between Algeria
and Morocco. Algeria did not care about the territory
itself, he was quick to point out, "we leave that in the
capable hands of the international community." Rather, Ziari
said, it was an issue of decolonization and Algeria would
welcome whatever decision was reached, even assimilation into
Morocco, as long as it was a decision made by the Sahrawi
people. Ziari also said that the issue retarded economic
integration and political cooperation in the Maghreb, and
urged that the international community do more to try to
resolve the issue. Rep. Hastings pushed the onus back on the
Algerians, saying that when he was a judge he would
frequently leave two parties with seemingly insurmountable
claims against each other in a room alone over lunch to work
out a compromise on their own, which was often successful.
He warned, however, that if neither Morocco nor Algeria
appeared willing to work toward a true compromise, the
international community would not waste time engaging further
in an already decades-old stalemate.


8. (C) Ziari pointed out that Algerian and Moroccan
parliamentarians work together on the Maghreb Parliamentary
Assembly, but lamented that his Moroccan counterparts only
"express the views of the King." He noted that there were
many cultural and historic commonalities between the
countries that should be expanded upon. The Senate's Bouhara
also noted collaborative efforts between the countries'
parliaments, and opined that "secondary issues, like the
Western Sahara, can be overcome." When asked by Hastings,
Ziari admitted that some European powers might actually
interfere in the process of resolving the simmering disputes
between Algeria and Morocco, noting specifically, "France
gets in the way sometimes."

--------------
SEE YOU SOON?
--------------


9. (C) Rep. Hastings' final message to all he met was that he
hoped to be able to return to the region both in his capacity
as a representative of the OSCE parliamentary assembly and as
an election observer (ref B),and he invited parliamentarians
to future meetings regarding the OSCE process. He also

ALGIERS 00001296 003 OF 003


stressed several times that he would ask Sen. Clinton and
Gov. Richardson, assuming they were confirmed for cabinet
positions, to visit the countries of the region soon to help
spur regional dialogue and integration. He thanked the
Algerians for their efforts in resolving past conflicts, such
as Ziari's role as the medical doctor who treated the
American diplomats held hostage in Iran (Note: The reference,
dropped in as an aside, was met by a sheepish but broad,
appreciative smile by Ziari. End note.). He suggested that
if the Algerians could find a way to work with Morocco to
resolve outstanding issues in the region, he would like to
see them act as mediators in disputes beyond the Maghreb, and
even beyond the Middle East.

--------------
COMMENT: IMBALANCE OF POWERS
--------------


10. (C) One lesson that can be drawn from the meetings
between Rep. Hastings and parliamentary officials is that the
Algerian legislative branch is not a significant
counterweight to the power of the executive. The
parliamentarians spent far more time discussing their
president and his agenda than their own, and the Minister of
Parliamentary Relations highlighted the weakness of the
legislative branch by explaining what little power it has,
and how tightly the ruling parties coordinate elections. No
one in the meetings really discussed constituent needs or
desires, other than to insist that the people want Bouteflika
to remain in office. Thus, party representation, rather than
popular representation, appears to be the focal point of
democracy in the eyes of the ruling party representatives.
In spite of that, former Prime Minister Belkhadem told the
Ambassador on December 7 that reforms were expected in 2009
that would strengthen the legislative branch, perhaps even
giving it authority to author legislation. It remains to be
seen if the lack of connection with the people will undercut
these leaders in future elections. Underlying Khedri's own
sarcasm was a sense of popular distrust and dissent when he
defensively asked, "How can one say we have no freedom of the
press, when all government officials -- from the highest to
the lowest -- are regularly criticized in the papers?" End
Comment.


11. (U) Rep. Hastings did not have the opportunity to clear
this cable
PEARCE