Bouteflika restructures two-headed Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Algerian media reported that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika reorganized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because it was “two -headed” and due to the necessity of rationalizing public funds.

The most important thing reflected in this step is the disappearance of one of the two offices that existed until last May. It is a measure imposed by the restoration of order to the two-headed sector and by the economic crisis that the country is undergoing and that requires a lot of seriousness in the rationalization of public money,

according to Shourouk News.

The newspaper pointed out that under these amendments “the ministry has now a single office, which is that of Abdelkader Messahel, the sole Minister of Foreign Affairs. The President of the Republic is the only person who can dispute his power, as he is the first responsible and the sole guide of Algerian diplomacy. The rest of the offices have not been changed profoundly, except for the reduction of some administrations and the integration of others.”

Read: Algeria: Death sentence for Mokhtar Belmokhtar

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs “has been two-headed until the exclusion of Ramtane Lamamra, who was replaced by the former Minister of Maghreb Affairs, the African Union and Arab League, Abdelkader Messahel,” added the newspaper.

Amendments in the Algerian Foreign Ministry included also “assigning the duties of the ministerial office for internal security in the institution to the Secretary-General.”