Algerian President Says No ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ in the Country

Tebboune with the Algerian Prime Minister on his right and the Director of the Presidency’s Office on his left during his meeting with the political parties (Photo: The Algerian Presidency)
Tebboune with the Algerian Prime Minister on his right and the Director of the Presidency’s Office on his left during his meeting with the political parties (Photo: The Algerian Presidency)
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Algerian President Says No ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ in the Country

Tebboune with the Algerian Prime Minister on his right and the Director of the Presidency’s Office on his left during his meeting with the political parties (Photo: The Algerian Presidency)
Tebboune with the Algerian Prime Minister on his right and the Director of the Presidency’s Office on his left during his meeting with the political parties (Photo: The Algerian Presidency)

Leaders in Algerian political parties, who met with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday, said that he “does not recognize the presence of prisoners of conscience in the country,” in reference to recent accusations by the opposition that the government has imprisoned 230 activists for expressing their views.
Louisa Hanoune, Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party and Youcef Aouchiche, First Secretary of the Opposition Front of Socialist Forces, called on Tebboune to “use his legal authority to issue orders to release prisoners of conscience.”
But the Algerian president replied: “We do not have prisoners of conscience in the country’s prisons... Tell me their names.”
According to the same politicians who attended Tuesday’s meeting, the discussion touched on the case of seventy-year-old journalist Saad Bouakba, who was convicted last year by the judiciary to six months of imprisonment with a suspended sentence, because of a satirical article he wrote about residents of an area south of the capital.
However, Tebboune refused to deal with this case as “restriction against a journalist because of an opinion article,” stressing that he “insulted the residents of an entire region” and added: “We spared him prison due to his age.”
Participants in the meeting also discussed the imprisonment of distinguished journalist, Ihsan El-Kadi, for 7 years, including 5 effective years, on charges of “receiving money from abroad for the purpose of undermining security.”
The charge led to the closure of his media outlet at the end of 2022, while the defense and colleagues of the sixty-year-old journalist confirmed that his writings, which strongly criticized the president, were the reason for his problems with the authorities and his imprisonment.
But Tebboune stressed, according to the politicians, that El-Kadi’s involvement in foreign financing, which is prohibited by law, has led to his prosecution.
According to leaks from the political dialogue, the president warned of “foreign attempts to harm the country’s stability,” and mentioned a specific country that “is targeting us.”
He also spoke about “the unrest in Mali, Niger, and Libya, and the repercussions of the situation in the neighborhood on our national security.”
Algeria’s relations with countries on the African coast deteriorated suddenly at the beginning of this year.

 

 



Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Egypt needs to import around $1.18 billion worth of mazut fuel oil and natural gas to end persistent power cuts exacerbated by consecutive heat waves, its Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a televised address on Tuesday.

It hopes the shipments will arrive in full around the third week of July, by which point the government aims to stop cutting power during the remaining summer months, he added.

It has already started contracting for 300,000 tons of mazut worth $180 million to boost its strategic reserves which are expected to arrive early next week.

Egypt's government on Monday extended daily power cuts to three hours from two hours previously in response to a surge in domestic electricity consumption during the latest heat wave.

These three-hour cuts will continue until the end of June, before returning to two hours in the first half of July with the aim of stopping completely for the rest of the summer, Madbouly said on Tuesday.

Egyptian social media has lit up with complaints about the impact of the blackouts, with some saying they have been forced to purchase private power generators.

The problem has particularly affected teenagers preparing for the crucial high school certificate, with some posting about students studying by candlelight and others in coffee shops.

A wedding hall owner in the coastal city of Port Said said he would turn one of his ballrooms into a study hall.

Since July last year, load shedding linked to falling gas production, rising demand and a shortage of foreign currency has led to scheduled two-hour daily power cuts in most areas.

"We had said that we planned to end load shedding by the end of 2024... we do not have a power generation problem or a network problem, we are unable to provide fuel," Madbouly said on Tuesday.

"With the increase in consumption related to the major development and population increase, there has been a lot of pressure on our dollar resources," he added.

He said production in a neighboring country's gas field had come to a full halt for 12 hours leading to an interruption in the supply, without naming the country or the gas field.

Egypt's Abu Qir Fertilizers said on Tuesday three of its plants had halted production because their supply of natural gas was cut.