Mediation rejected as Algeria’s protests march on

As the Algerian protests entered a further week of unrest, the latest attempt to bring together the demonstrators and government — the Independent Panel for National Dialogue and Mediation — looks to have emerged stillborn, with threats of resignation and criticism from both sides already eroding the body’s standing, just days into its mandate. One member, Smail Lalmas, has already left the body.

The panel, with members pulled from Algeria’s civil society groups, was established by interim President Abdelkadir Bensalah on July 25. It was charged with finding a common course between the apparently irreconcilable agendas of the Algerian state and the mass protests movement, or hirak, calling for its ejection. However, just five days after its formation, a spokesperson for the new body was already threatening its dissolution should the state refuse to respond to its preconditions for dialogue.

In addition to calls for the resignation of the current government and its replacement with a further interim body, the six members of the Independent Panel for National Dialogue and Mediation called for “the release of people arrested during the marches in recent months, and lifting the security checkpoints set in the entrances of the capital Algiers in a bid to prevent Algerian citizens from taking part in the weekly marches staged every Friday,” its head, Karim Younes, told the country’s state-run Channel 1 radio July 30.

Even before the current deadlock, problems were apparent. On Aug. 2, protesters across the country appeared to reject both the aims of the National Dialogue Panel, as well as the continued influence of army chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, who many see as the de facto ruler of the country. Throughout the country, protesters again took to the streets, chanting “Makach hiwar maa l'isaabat” ("There is no dialogue with the gangs") as well as voicing their rejection of rule by the army.