Algeria - Profile - Liamine Zeroual.

The president of the republic since January 1994, Zeroual is the highest decision maker. He is the chairman National Council of Energy (NCE), set up in February 1997, the CNE is the highest policy making body for the energy sector and related industries. Its members include the key ministers and the heads of both Sonatrach and Sonelgaz. Specific decisions are usually worked out at the cabinet level. Virtually all the ministers and top bureaucrats with portfolios related to the economy, from the prime minister down to the central bank governor, are involved in various aspects of the hydrocarbon sector. This is because oil and gas form the bedrock of the Algerian economy, amounting to about 95% of the country's foreign exchange earnings. No macro-economic issue can be discussed without taking this sector into consideration. Zeroual's legitimacy as president was enhanced in the November 1995 elections, in which he emerged as a winner with over 60% of the vote. The president's powers were boosted in a constitutional referendum held on Nov. 28, 1996. According to the government, 84.6% of the 13.1 million voters were in favour of constitutional amendments proposed in that referendum. The amendments superseded the constitution of 1989, which had led to the first multi-party elections in Algeria. Under the new constitution, the president has a larger degree of control over the legislature. It allows him to legislate by decree if the national assembly is not in session. It extends the president's right to nominate senior officials, including the head of the second chamber of parliament. Zeroual, the sixth head of state since independence from France in 1962, had from the outset projected himself as someone prepared to talk with the Islamic groups in a "sincere" way if they "renounced terrorism". He has made repeated efforts to reconcile with the FIS since January 1994, including meetings with its imprisoned leaders Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj. After the upsurge of violence from late 1996, however, Zeroual on Jan. 24, 1997, vowed to "exterminate" those Islamic groups who were responsible for the bloodshed. But the cycle of violence has continued. Zeroual has a number of aides and allies who wield significant influence within the Algerian ruling structure. These include Abdelkader Bensalah, who in February 1997 formed the National Democratic Rally (RND) as a ruling party. RND has since drawn support from the unions, independence war veterans, and women's associations, all bodies which supported Zeroual in the 1995 presidential election. RND has become a political vehicle for Zeroual and his allies. A co-founder of RND is Ahmed Ouyahia, another ally who served as prime minister from end-1995 to Dec. 14, 1998 and who later became the party's secretary general (see below). Zeroual was born on July 3, 1941, in Batna, in the Aures region east of Algeria. He is a veteran of the 1954-62 war of independence against France. After the war ended in 1962, he received military training in Russia between 1965 and 1966 and in France in 1974. In 1975, he was put in charge of Algeria's weapons school. He also commanded the Cherchel Academy, the premier institute for the officer elite. In 1982, he was made commander of Tamanrasset region in the extreme south. He had a similar posting in 1984 at Bechar on the Moroccan border and the Constantine region in 1987. He was promoted to general and became deputy chief of staff in 1988. He resigned in 1989, after a conflict with then president Chadli Benjedid over army reorganisation. He was posted for a one-year term as ambassador to Romania in 1991, but he resigned after less than a year to get away from politics and spend time in his hometown. This was followed by a two-and-a-half year retreat from public life. In a dramatic return to politics, Zeroual was made defence minister on July 3, 1993, replacing Gen. Khaled Nezzar who was then considered the most powerful man in the country. Zeroual, at the time seen as little more than a retired officer with the rank of major general, kept a relatively low profile in his post. Then in another dramatic move, Zeroual was named president six months after returning to public life. He was sworn into the post on Jan. 31, 1994. Initially, Zeroual was seen as a transitional figure. But in October 1994, he announced that presidential elections would be held by end-1995. The presidential elections of Nov. 16, 1995, helped to push further into the background military-dominated decision making bodies that emerged amid the January 1992 ouster of president Chadli Benjedid. These included the High Security Council (HCS) and the High State Council (HCE). After the 1992 military-backed takeover, the HCS was the main authority and four out of its five members were military officers, including Zeroual. The HCE, which served as a collegiate presidency also consisting of five members, was guided by the HCS, with a figurehead president having circumscribed powers. Zeroual took over as president on the day HSC's mandate expired. The president is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and the man in charge of all defence- related policy making. In March 1998 Zeroual went to a private medical clinic near Geneva after having suffered heart problems. The doctors warned him against working hard. Mainly because of this, Zeroual said on Sept. 11 he would retire from office in February 1999, i.e., 18 months before the end of his term.