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| - Here are some key facts about Algeria, a north African nation of 44 million which holds a constitutional referendum on Sunday in response to a wave of popular anti-government protests. Algeria is Africa's biggest country and most of its territory is covered by desert. More than 80 percent of the population lives along the Mediterranean coast, where the capital Algiers is located. Nearly 54 percent are younger than 30. The country counts some 10 million ethnic Berbers, most of them living in Kabylie, a mountainous region to the east of Algiers. Algeria's official languages are Arabic and the Berbers' Tamazight but not French, although it is widely spoken. A French colony since 1830, Algeria became independent in 1962 after a 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, violent protests rocked 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. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed responsibility for many civilian massacres. At the height of the conflict, FLN stalwart Abdelaziz Bouteflika won the 1999 presidential election. Bouteflika 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 a massive protest movement from February 22 dubbed "Hirak", which forced Bouteflika, who had lost the support of the army, to resign on April 2. On December 12, Bouteflika's former prime minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune won the presidential election. He was immediately rejected by Hirak, which is demanding an end to the governing system in place since independence. Socialist-ruled until the early 1990s, Algeria's economy remains subject to a high level of state intervention. Algeria is Africa's third biggest oil producer and among the 10 biggest producers of natural gas. The oil wealth subsidises fuel, water, health care, housing and basic goods. However the economy has been hard hit by the pandemic, which, along with falling crude prices, has brought many economic sectors to a standstill. Oil and gas represent around 90 percent of Algeria's total exports and its hard currency reserves have dropped from more than 162 billion euros in 2014 to less than 57 billion euros late last year. The International Monetary Fund has forecast that Algeria will in 2020 have one of the region's highest budget deficits. President Tebboune has acknowledged the economy's "vulnerability" due to its failure for decades to diversify its oil dependent economy. acm/jmy/eab/fz
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