Algeria's judiciary has ordered the arrest of the former minister of energy, Chakib Khalil, his two sons and his wife, along with the brother of the former foreign minister, Farid Bedjaoui, over a bribery and corruption case linked to Algeria's national oil company, Sonatrach. The move poses a question about whether the battle within the military has truly begun to choose a successor to Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika, who will not run again in April 2014 because of the stroke he suffered. Khalil is an American citizen who worked for a long time at the World Bank in Washington. He was a friend and close confidante of Bouteflika, who immediately upon becoming president, asked him to come to Algeria to become oil minister, in 2000. Khalil, who is 74, is from Oujda, the same region as his friend Bouteflika. The judiciary charged the minister and his family and Bedjaoui and a number of people with taking huge commissions in exchange for Sonatrach oil contracts. The issuing of the judicial decision against Khalil and his family, who are currently in the US, the country of his second passport, leads to the question about the whether this decision, which will not be implemented since Khalil is a US citizen and the American judiciary will not turn him over to Algeria (especially because there is no bilateral extradition agreement), is linked to the beginning of the battle to succeed Bouteflika, and the ouster of groups close to the president. In Algeria, it is customary for the military to elect a president. In other words, a few influential generals are the true power in Algeria; they agree on a small number of presidential candidates. Then, the military agrees on one or two of them, who will toe the line of the military and its conditions. This is how the "luckiest" candidate is chosen. This is how Bouteflika was elected. He certainly had some power, because he often took decisions that were not always in line with the wishes of the general who had selected him. His current ailment and inability to continue in office with his complete faculties have changed the equation, however. It is highly likely that he will remain head of state until April, when the elections are scheduled, despite his condition, and so that things are not destabilized by the altering of election dates and the taking of emergency decisions. However, all of this is possible if the generals agree to speed up the decision; this remains very secret, just like everything in politics, despite the occasional leaks to the media from within ruling circles. Bouteflika returned from France but everyone knows that he experienced a dangerous health problem and his ability to recover remains unknown, along with his ability to chair Cabinet meetings and take real decisions. As long as there is no agreement within the military on a successor from among the names that are being mentioned in Algeria, it is very much likely that the military will not change the date for electing a new president, i.e. in April. However, the generals who are against Bouteflika, his family and his allies, might want to remove him from the decision-making process, in order to select a candidate to succeed him. Thus, the international judicial order to detain Bouteflika's friends is part of the move to head off any attempt to nominate someone close to him, or to see him take part in choosing his successor. The issuing of the decision - with Khalil in the US - means that the international justice system will not reach the former minister, and that the Algerian court decision will not be implemented. In addition, corruption at the state level has been widespread in Algeria for decades. This is known by all. If things were different, a country rich in oil and gas resources would have become prosperous and promising for its young people. Young Algerians would have abandoned their exit visas in search of work and opportunities for success; the country would be beautiful, wide-open and diverse. But it has failed to attract tourism and non-oil investments and services. The military is certainly concerned with reaching an agreement on candidates acceptable to them, as part of the test for nominating them to the presidency. The timing of the Algerian judicial order could be more about politics than about an attempt at accountability when it comes to the corruption of the many people in Algeria who should be held accountable for such acts.
