'Algeria doesn't allow its youth to look to the future'
Franco-Algerian economist El Mouhoub Mouhoud has talked to Mediapart about the economic and social origins of the current Algerian revolt. He criticises the inertia of the regime under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which has put off structural reform and driven the country into an economic and social dead end. Rachida El Azzouzi reports.
FrancoFranco-Algerian economist El Mouhoub Mouhoud, who is the vice-president of Paris-Dauphine University and the author of numerous books, has spoken to Mediapart about the origins of the current revolt in Algeria, whose roots lie in catastrophic economic management. Trapped in a state-dominated oil economy hit by clientelism, corruption and lethargy, Africa's biggest country and the fifth largest producer in the world of oil and gas seems doomed to sacrificing its future generations amid economic stagnation unless it carries out deep structural reforms and diversifies its economy. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for 20 years, has just announced he will stand for a fifth term in April's elections, but in a bid to quell some of the anger over the way he is holding onto power he has promised that once re-elected he will stand down after a year.
