Ahmed Ouyahia

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Ahmed Ouyahia (Template:Langx; 2 July 1952) is an Algerian politician who was prime minister of Algeria four times (1995–98, 2004–2006, 2008–2012, 2017–2019). A career diplomat, he also served as Minister of Justice, and he was one of the founders of the Democratic National Rally (RND) as well as the party's secretary-general. He is considered by Western observers to be close to the military of Algeria and a member of the "eradicator" faction in the 1990s civil war against Islamist militants.<ref name="Naylor2006">Template:Cite book</ref> Ouyahia resigned as prime minister in March 2019 following President Bouteflika's announcement that he would not seek reelection, and Ouyahia was arrested in June 2019 for crimes related to corruption. He was later convicted and is currently serving 19 years in jail.

Early life and education

Ouyahia was born in the village of Bouadnane in Tizi Ouzou Province in the Kabylie region of Algeria on 2 July 1952.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> Following a primary education starting in Algiers, he followed a secondary education at the Lycee El Idrissi (El Idrissi High School) in Algiers. Ouyahia obtained his diploma of Baccalauréat ès-lettres in 1972.

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 Ahmed Attaf, Ouyahia joined the National High Studies School of Administration and specialised in diplomacy.<ref name=jabio2009>"Bio express : Ahmed Ouyahia" Template:Webarchive, Jeune Afrique, 9 June 2009 Template:In lang.</ref> He graduated in 1976 and did his military service from 1976 to 1978, at the El Mouradia compound of the Algerian Presidency where he was a member of the press relations team.<ref name=jabio2009/>

Early career

In 1979, Ouyahia joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was assigned to the African affairs department.<ref name=jabio2009/> In 1980 he was named as an advisor for foreign affairs to the Ambassador of Algeria in Ivory Coast, where he served until 1982.<ref name=jabio2009/> 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.<ref name=jabio2009/> In 1988 Ouyahia became the general director of the African department of the foreign affairs ministry.<ref name=jabio2009/> From 1988 to 1989 Ouyahia was co-representative to the United Nations Security Council.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> He was an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1991.<ref name="Naylor2006"/>

He led the African department until 1991<ref name=jabio2009/> when he was named as Ambassador to Mali; he served in the latter post from 1992 to 1993.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> There he helped negotiate a 1992 peace deal in the Malian Tuareg rebellion between the warring Malian government of Alpha Oumar Konaré and the Azawad Tuareg movement: the short lived "Pacte National" treaty. In August 1993, Ouyahia was called back to Algiers to serve in the government of Redha Malek as Undersecretary of State for African and Arab Affairs, Secretary of State for Cooperation and Maghreb Affairs.<ref name=jabio2009/>

In April 1994, he was nominated as the cabinet director of President Liamine Zeroual,<ref name="Naylor2006"/> in which post he was in charge of political affairs such as the negotiations with the leaders of the banned Islamic Salvation Front party (FIS) and the preparations for the 1995 presidential election, which the president won in November 1995. His role in as a member of the so-called "eradicator" faction, advocating all out war against the insurgency during the Algerian Civil War that killed more than 150,000 on both sides,<ref>Craig S. Smith, "Voices of the Dead Echo Across Algeria" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, 18 April 2004</ref> earned him criticism from some Western human rights groups.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> He is particularly associated with the creation in the late 1990s of the GLD citizen militias ("Legitimate Defence Groups", Groupes de légitime défense).<ref>Document – Algeria: Truth and justice obscured by the shadow of impunity Template:Webarchive. MDE 28 November 2000. Amnesty International. 8 November 2000</ref><ref>"Algeria to Arm More Civilians for Fight Against Islamic Militants" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times. 22 January 1998</ref>

First and second premierships

In December 1995, Ouyahia was nominated as Prime Minister and held that position until December 1998,<ref name=jabio2009/> 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<ref>Armed Conflicts Report, Algeria Template:Webarchive. 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.</ref><ref>Jostling elites begin race to lead Algeria to peace Template:Webarchive. Karen Thomas. The Guardian. 12 February 1999 "...Ahmed Ouyahia, the unpopular prime minister who resigned in December."</ref> and his December 1998 resignation. As well, opposition parliamentarians accused Ouyahia of rigging the 1997 elections.<ref>"Algeria: Premier quits" Template:Webarchive, 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)</ref><ref>Human Rights Watch World Report 2002 – Algeria Template:Webarchive. Human Rights Watch. 17 January 2002</ref>

In 2000, Ouyahia was elected as Secretary General of the National Rally for Democracy (RND), which he had earlier helped to found.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> He resigned from the post on 5 January 2013.<ref name=ap5jan>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Ahmed Ouyahia and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Ouyahia served as the Minister of State for Justice from 1999 to 2002 in Bouteflika's first government.<ref name="Naylor2006"/> During this time Ouyahia was assigned the task of securing a peace deal in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea by Bouteflika, who was also the president of Organisation for African Unity in 2000. Ouyahia worked in conjunction with Anthony Lake, National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton of the United States, and a peace deal was secured and signed in Algiers in December 2000.<ref name="Naylor2006"/>

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.<ref>The Middle East and North Africa 2003. Europa Publications. Routledge, 2002 Template:ISBN p. 169.</ref>

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,<ref name=jabio2009/> until his resignation on 24 May 2006 amidst political arguments between Ouyahia's political party and Bouteflika's political party, the FLN.

Economic troubles

Ouyahia with Donald Rumsfeld on 12 Feb. 2006

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.<ref>Algeria: 2004 Template:Webarchive. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 25 February 2005</ref>

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.<ref>Algeria’s new PM to revise constitution, hike pay. Ouyahia resigns after his intransigence in face of repeated strikes by teachers, vets, doctors, workers Template:Webarchive. 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."</ref>

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.<ref>2004 Report on Human Rights Practices: Algeria Template:Webarchive. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 28 February 2005</ref> From 1993 to 2000, around 4,000 men and women suddenly disappeared in Algeria after being arrested by security forces.<ref>Document – Algeria: Mothers and other relatives of the "disappeared" arrested and threatened Template:Webarchive. MDE 28 February 2000. Amnesty International. 15 March 2000</ref> 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."<ref>X. The International Community on a Treadmill Template:Webarchive, Time for Reckoning (Algeria). Human Rights Watch. 26 February 2003</ref><ref>Algeria: Human Rights Report 2001Template:Dead link. Human Rights Watch. 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2009.</ref>

Kabylie mediator

Ouyahia has been widely credited with mediating a longstanding dispute between protesters leaders from his native Kabylie and the government. In 2005, the government took steps to defuse tensions with the Kabylie and address the concerns of regional leaders. In particular, prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia reached agreement on a number of Kabylie grievances with Arouch leader Belaid Abrika, who had been physically assaulted during a public protest rally and seriously injured in 2004 by members of government security services. The agreement dealt with economic and social concerns and made possible regional elections in November 2005.<ref>Algeria 2005 Template:Webarchive. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 8 March 2006</ref> <ref>Isabelle Werenfels. Managing instability in Algeria: elites and political change since 1995. Routledge, 2007 Template:ISBN p.73</ref> Ouyahia made a number of visits to opposition leaders, and reached out in the Berber-language media for reconciliation.<ref>"Algeria Seeks Peace With Berber Ethnic Minority" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times, 2 June 2005</ref>

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.<ref name=jabio2009/> On this occasion, he pledged "to continue to apply the policy programme of the President of the Republic."<ref>"Algerian president brings back Ouyahia for third stint as PM", Agence France-Presse, 23 June 2008. Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Cherif Ouazani, "Ouyahia peut-il durer ?" Template:Webarchive, Jeune Afrique. 9 June 2009.</ref> Ouyahia's term ended on 3 September 2012, and he was replaced by Abdulmalek Sellal.<ref name=gnews>Template:Cite news</ref>

Bouteflika appointed Ouyahia as Director of the Cabinet of the Presidency, with the rank of Minister of State, in March 2014.<ref>Faouzia Ababsa, "Ouyahia, le retour" Template:Webarchive, L'Éconews, 13 March 2014 Template:In lang.</ref> Ouyahia was again appointed as prime minister on 15 August 2017, succeeding Abdelmadjid Tebboune;<ref>Lamine Chikhi, "Algeria recalls veteran crisis manager Ouyahia as Prime Minister", Reuters, 15 August 2017.</ref> he took office on 16 August.<ref>"Le Premier Ministre prend ses fonctions" Template:Webarchive, Official Site of Algerian Prime Minister, 16 August 2017 Template:In lang.</ref>

In October 2018, Ouyahia announced that Algeria would ban the burqa at the workplace.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2019, Ouyahia resigned from his position as prime minister following President Bouteflika's announcement that he would not seek reelection following protests across the country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2019, Ouyahia was arrested by the country's supreme court as part of an anti-corruption investigation.<ref name="Ahmed 2019">Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2019, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2020, an appeals court upheld his sentence,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> to 12 years in prison.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 4 January 2021, Ouyahia was sentenced to seven years in prison, in relation to the corruption case in the tourism sector in Skikda.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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