Algeria: president warns of rumours and desperation to destabilise country

Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune warned on Sunday of “the danger of rumours of war and desperation discourse led by some parties, which aim to bring chaos and confusion” to the country. “The Algerian state is working to fulfil all demands in all sectors,” he insisted.

Tebboune made his comments during a speech in response to rumours spreading in Algeria over the past few days about the scarcity of medicines and certain basic foodstuffs such as milk and vegetable oil, as well as chaos in the bakery sector. The rumours circulated widely on social media and prompted parliament to create a committee to investigate what is happening and establish who is behind the crisis. The ministry of commerce, meanwhile, asserts that what has been claimed is all “fabricated”.

Tebboune called on citizens to confront rumours by “being vigilant”, and stressed the state’s determination to provide all means to overcome the pandemic. “I call on all Algerians to sacrifice in order to succeed in the vaccination process,” he added when paying tribute to medical staff for their efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19.

The Algerian president pledged to “guarantee the legitimate demands of health sector employees, to review all laws regulating the sector and to solve its problems by the end of the year.”

The Algerian Minister for the Pharmaceutical Industry, Lotfi Benbahmad, said a few days ago that the Saidal Group intends to produce 96 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine annually. He added that this national company also intends to “adjust the amount of this vaccine produced according to the development of national needs, and move towards exporting it across Africa.”

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