Ahmed Ouyahia
Ahmed Ouyahia | |
---|---|
أحمد أويحيى | |
Prime Minister of Algeria | |
In office 16 August 2017 – 12 March 2019 | |
President | Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
Preceded by | Abdelmadjid Tebboune |
Succeeded by | Noureddine Bedoui |
In office 23 June 2008 – 3 September 2012 | |
President | Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
Preceded by | Abdelaziz Belkhadem |
Succeeded by | Abdelmalek Sellal |
In office 11 August 2004 – 24 May 2006 | |
President | Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
Preceded by | Ali Benflis |
Succeeded by | Abdelaziz Belkhadem |
In office 31 December 1995 – 15 December 1998 | |
President | Liamine Zéroual |
Preceded by | Mokdad Sifi |
Succeeded by | Smail Hamdani |
Secretary General of the Democratic National Rally | |
In office 10 June 2015 – 25 June 2019 Acting: 10 June 2015 – 5 May 2016 | |
Preceded by | Abdelkader Bensalah |
Succeeded by |
|
In office 26 January 1999 – 3 January 2013 | |
Preceded by | Tahar Benaibèche |
Succeeded by | Abdelkader Bensalah |
Personal details | |
Born | Iboudraren, Algeria | 2 July 1952
Political party | Democratic National Rally |
Ahmed Ouyahia (
Early life and education
Ouyahia was born in the village of
In 1972, Ahmed Ouyahia joined the entry examination for the "National High Studies School of Administration" of Algiers. Having scored among the top three applicants, along with
Early career
In 1979, Ouyahia joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was assigned to the African affairs department.[2] In 1980 he was named as an advisor for foreign affairs to the Ambassador of Algeria in Ivory Coast, where he served until 1982.[2] In 1982 he was assigned as a foreign affairs advisor to the head of the Permanent Mission of Algeria at the United Nations headquarters in New York.[2] In 1988 Ouyahia became the general director of the African department of the foreign affairs ministry.[2] From 1988 to 1989 Ouyahia was co-representative to the United Nations Security Council.[1] He was an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1991.[1]
He led the African department until 1991
In April 1994, he was nominated as the cabinet director of President
First and second premierships
In December 1995, Ouyahia was nominated as Prime Minister and held that position until December 1998,[2] when he resigned following the election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika as president. The economic condition of Algeria in the late 1990s, as well as a wave of public sector strikes, contributed to his increasing unpopularity as Prime Minister[6][7] and his December 1998 resignation. As well, opposition parliamentarians accused Ouyahia of rigging the 1997 elections.[8][9]
In 2000, Ouyahia was elected as Secretary General of the National Rally for Democracy (RND), which he had earlier helped to found.[1] He resigned from the post on 5 January 2013.[10]
Ouyahia served as the Minister of State for Justice from 1999 to 2002 in Bouteflika's first government.
A strong defender of the government, in February 2001, Ouyahia proposed new laws as justice minister which would have imposed a three-year prison term for authors of articles or drawings deemed "defamatory" to political leaders.[11]
In June 2002, following the defeat of the RND in the 2002 parliamentary election, Ouyahia resigned and was nominated in the next government as Minister of State and Special Representative of the President, an honorary position entailing no governing power. In August 2004, Ouyahia was nominated as prime minister for a second time, following a political crisis between President Bouteflika and Prime Minister Ali Benflis, who was dismissed. Ouyahia served in the post for three years,[2] until his resignation on 24 May 2006 amidst political arguments between Ouyahia's political party and Bouteflika's political party, the FLN.
Economic troubles
Starting on 14 October 2004 and lasting through 10 November, the National Council of Secondary and Technical Education Professors (CNAPEST) and the Secondary School Council of Algiers (CLA) went on strike over low wages. education minister Boubekeur Benbouzid, backed by prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia, refused to meet with representatives of either union because they were not officially recognized. Instead, the Government ordered the suspension of more than 300 teachers and threatened further sanctions. only after the officially recognized UGTA affiliate National Federation of Education Workers (FNTE) joined the strike did the agree to raise wages.[12]
The domestic press again asserted that his May 2006 resignation was due to public unpopularity after his opposition to public sector strikes, his opposition to a plan put forward by the rival FNL to raise salaries, and by his support for privatisation of industries.[13]
Human rights
In June 2005, Ouyahia called Al-Jazeera television, recently closed indefinitely by his government, "a channel whose sole aim was to tarnish Algeria's image." The channel had broadcast several reports critical of the government the week prior to its closure.[14] From 1993 to 2000, around 4,000 men and women suddenly disappeared in Algeria after being arrested by security forces.[15] Ouyahia has been accused by Western Human rights groups of downplaying the number missing and criticised for claiming that "a large number of the so-called disappeared were in fact in the ranks of terrorist groups."[16][17]
Kabylie mediator
Ouyahia has been widely credited with mediating a longstanding dispute between protesters leaders from his native
Third and fourth premierships
After some prominent involvement in international diplomatic meetings earlier in 2008, Ouyahia was again named Prime Minister by Bouteflika on 23 June 2008.[2] On this occasion, he pledged "to continue to apply the policy programme of the President of the Republic."[21] The foreign and domestic press commented on the sometime stormy relations between Ouyahia and Bouteflika, which did not have the same way of his Prime Ministership.[22] Ouyahia's term ended on 3 September 2012, and he was replaced by Abdulmalek Sellal.[23]
Bouteflika appointed Ouyahia as Director of the Cabinet of the Presidency, with the rank of Minister of State, in March 2014.[24] Ouyahia was again appointed as prime minister on 15 August 2017, succeeding Abdelmadjid Tebboune;[25] he took office on 16 August.[26]
In October 2018, Ouyahia announced that Algeria would ban the
In March 2020, an
References
- ^ ISBN 0-8108-3136-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Bio express : Ahmed Ouyahia", Jeune Afrique, 9 June 2009 (in French).
- ^ Craig S. Smith, "Voices of the Dead Echo Across Algeria", The New York Times, 18 April 2004
- ^ Document – Algeria: Truth and justice obscured by the shadow of impunity. MDE 28 November 2000. Amnesty International. 8 November 2000
- ^ "Algeria to Arm More Civilians for Fight Against Islamic Militants", The New York Times. 22 January 1998
- ^ Armed Conflicts Report, Algeria. Ploughshares (Canada). Update: January 2008. "... Disliked by the press and the population at large, Ouyahia is blamed not so much for the continuing massacres of civilians as for the decline in living conditions." quoting Le Monde 20 December 1998.
- ^ Jostling elites begin race to lead Algeria to peace. Karen Thomas. The Guardian. 12 February 1999 "...Ahmed Ouyahia, the unpopular prime minister who resigned in December."
- ^ "Algeria: Premier quits", The New York Times. 15 December 1998. "Opposition members accused Mr. Ouyahia of rigging the 1997 parliamentary elections in favor of the majority party, and demanded his resignation as a signal that the approaching elections would be fair. Mr. Ouyahia had been denounced for not turning around a declining economy, or ending attacks by radical Islamic guerrillas." Craig Pyes (NYT)
- ^ Human Rights Watch World Report 2002 – Algeria. Human Rights Watch. 17 January 2002
- ^ "Top Algerian politician resigns as party head". Asharq Alawsat. Algiers. Associated Press. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ISBN 1-85743-132-4p. 169.
- ^ Algeria: 2004. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 25 February 2005
- ^ Algeria’s new PM to revise constitution, hike pay. Ouyahia resigns after his intransigence in face of repeated strikes by teachers, vets, doctors, workers Archived 12 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Middle East Online. 25 May 2006"Daily newspaper Le Jeune Indépendant said that Ouyahia, who resigned on Wednesday night, had been scuppered by his own opposition to an increase in public salaries.The former president had become highly unpopular since he came out against the general salary increase proposed by the unions and supported by the FNL, led by Belkhadem, in January. Ouyahia's unpopularity was exacerbated by his intransigence in the face of repeated strikes by teachers, vets, doctors, and by workers who claimed their jobs were threatened by the privatisation of public sector organisations, which the former prime minister was determined to push through."
- ^ 2004 Report on Human Rights Practices: Algeria. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 28 February 2005
- ^ Document – Algeria: Mothers and other relatives of the "disappeared" arrested and threatened. MDE 28 February 2000. Amnesty International. 15 March 2000
- ^ X. The International Community on a Treadmill, Time for Reckoning (Algeria). Human Rights Watch. 26 February 2003
- ^ Algeria: Human Rights Report 2001[permanent dead link]. Human Rights Watch. 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
- ^ Algeria 2005. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 8 March 2006
- ISBN 0-415-40344-8p.73
- ^ "Algeria Seeks Peace With Berber Ethnic Minority", The New York Times, 2 June 2005
- ^ "Algerian president brings back Ouyahia for third stint as PM", Agence France-Presse, 23 June 2008. "AFP: Algerian president brings back Ouyahia for third stint as PM". Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
- ^ Cherif Ouazani, "Ouyahia peut-il durer ?", Jeune Afrique. 9 June 2009.
- ^ "Algeria's new PM takes office". Gulf News. Algiers. AFP. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
- ^ Faouzia Ababsa, "Ouyahia, le retour" Archived 16 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, L'Éconews, 13 March 2014 (in French).
- ^ Lamine Chikhi, "Algeria recalls veteran crisis manager Ouyahia as Prime Minister", Reuters, 15 August 2017.
- ^ "Le Premier Ministre prend ses fonctions", Official Site of Algerian Prime Minister, 16 August 2017 (in French).
- ^ "Algeria: Government Bans Full-face Veil at Workplace". The North Africa Post. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Algeria bans wearing of full-face veils in public sector". MEO. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Algerian president says he will not run again after weeks of protests". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ Ahmed, Hamid Ould (12 June 2019). "Algeria's ex-PM, former minister detained over alleged corruption". Reuters U.K.
- ^ Ahmed, Hamid Ould (10 December 2019). "Two days before election, Algeria jails two ex-prime ministers". Reuters.
- ^ Ahmed, Hamid Ould (25 March 2020). "Algeria confirms jail sentences for two former PMs". Reuters.[dead link]
- ^ "Algeria: Prison sentences for Ouyahia and Bouchouareb in SOVAC case". Middle East Monitor. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- ^ "Corruption dans le secteur touristique à Skikda : Ahmed Ouyahia condamné à 7 ans de prison ferme". algerie-eco.com (in French). 4 January 2021.