Newly re-elected President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took the oath of office, vowing to devote his second term to the quest for "true national reconciliation" in war-torn Algeria. Picking up on two other themes of the electoral campaign ahead of his landslide re-election victory on April 8, Bouteflika pledged to resolve a three-year-old crisis in the Berber homeland Kabylie and to emancipate women from a restrictive family code of law.
| Going to become Moroccan, are they? |
Peace and reconciliation "will allow Algerians ... to devote their energy and resources to the development" of the north African country, Bouteflika said at his lavish, televised swearing-in at a resort west of Algiers. Meanwhile the outgoing head of government Ahmed Ouyahia was appointed by Bouteflika to head the country's new administration.
| "Meet the new government, same as the old government..." |
And defeated presidential candidate Ali Benflis resigned as secretary-general of the National Liberation Front (FLN).
| But nobody's throat's been slit so far, so that's a good sign... |
Bouteflika, 67, said the continuing struggle against Islamic extremist militancy would be "in the framework of the international mobilization against terrorism." The president also called for renewed dialogue to resolve a three-year-old crisis in Kabylie, the northeastern homeland of Algeria's Berber minority. "I am certain that an acceptable solution will be found," he added, calling for a return to the negotiating table between the government and traditional Berber leaders, known as aarches, who have not met together since talks collapsed in February 2002.
| I suppose they could start by pushing Berber language and culture. Being Arabs hasn't worked out real great... |
Bouteflika also vowed to free women from the yoke of the Islamic "family code." The president did not specify the changes that he has in mind for what women's groups have dubbed the "code of shame," voted into law in 1984 by the then sole ruling party, the FLN. The controversial code considers women to be minors throughout their lives and requires them to remain under the tutelage of a family member or husband. It also allows polygamy and makes divorce easy for men but nearly impossible for women, while inheritance laws award twice as much to male heirs as to female offspring. Bouteflika said: "Taboos remain to be overturned, especially in certain mentalities that do not manage to open up to modernity," in a reference to radical Islamists who are opposed to amending the family code as feminist and secularist groups demand.
| Gee. Golly. Who could possibly benefit from such laws? |
Ouyahia tendered his cabinet's resignation as required by the constitution in the wake of the president's swearing-in. But he was quickly appointed to head the country's new government. He is to enter consultations shortly to form a government, the president's office said. Ouyahia, head of the National Democratic Rally, had backed Bouteflika's campaign along with the moderate Islamist party the Movement for Society and Peace and one faction of the divided FLN. Another FLN faction backed secretary general Ali Benflis, who polled only 6.4 percent of the vote, to 85 percent for Bouteflika. He had been regarded as the most serious challenger to Bouteflika.
| Getting a tenth of the vote wasn't much of a challenge... |
The political bureau of the FLN, once the country's only political party, also offered its resignation, according to Abbes Mekhalif, president of the FLN parliamentary group at the national assembly. A provisional bureau has been set up.
| Let the recriminations begin! Maybe we can loan them our 9-11 commission for awhile? |
After winning a parliamentary majority and local elections in 2002, the FLN split when the issue arose of which candidate to support in this year's presidential election. |