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| - The North African country of Algeria has been the scene for the past year of huge protests against the ruling elite and political system. Here are some key facts about the nation of 42 million people, which is undergoing economic and social difficulties due to the fall in the price of oil, which accounts for the bulk of its budget. A French colony since 1830, Algeria became independent in 1962 after a bloody war which lasted nearly eight years. In 1963, Ahmed Ben Bella, secretary general of the National Liberation Front (FLN) which had led the struggle against French rule, became the first president. Two years later the FLN's Houari Boumediene overthrew and jailed Ben Bella, continuing to run Algeria as a one-party state until his death in 1978. Colonel Chadli Bendjedid was then elected president, a post he held until 1992. In 1988, protests rocked the capital Algiers, prompting the authorities to declare a state of emergency. The army clamped down on demonstrators but introduced political reforms which brought an end to the single-party system. However, when the country held its first multi-party legislative poll in 1991, the army stepped in to prevent the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) winning and setting up an Islamic state. That sparked a civil war which killed some 200,000 people between 1992 and 2002, with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claiming responsibility for many civilian massacres. At the height of the war, FLN stalwart Abdelaziz Bouteflika won the 1999 presidential election. He won a fourth term in 2014, despite suffering a stroke the previous year which confined him to a wheelchair. His bid for a fifth term in 2019 sparked massive street protests from February 22. After losing the support of key loyalists, including the army, he resigned on April 2. On December 12, Bouteflika's former prime minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune, won the presidential election. He was immediately rejected by the protest movement, dubbed "Hirak" which continues into 2020 to demand an end to the governing system in place since independence. Algeria is Africa's biggest country and most of its territory is covered by desert. More than 80 percent of the population lives on the coast, including in the capital Algiers. Nearly 54 percent are younger than 30. It counts some 10 million ethnic Berbers, most of them living in Kabylie, a mountainous region to the east of Algiers. Although widely spoken, French is not one of Algeria's official languages, which are Arabic and the Berbers' Tamazight. Socialist until the early 1990s, Algeria's economy remains subject to a high level of state intervention. The oil wealth subsidises fuel, water, health care, housing and basic goods. Algeria is Africa's third biggest crude producer and among the 10 biggest producers of natural gas. Oil and gas represent around 93 percent of Algeria's total exports and account for some 45 percent of budget revenues. The country currently produces around one million barrels of oil a day, against more than 1.4 million in 2005, according to the authorities. In November 2019, Algeria's parliament adopted a controversial law aimed at boosting investment in the oil and gas sector, but critics said it was aimed at selling off the country's wealth to multinational firms. acm-jmy/eab/hkb
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