As the Algerian protests entered a further week of unrest, the latest attempt to bring together the demonstrators and government — the Independent Panel for National Dialogue and Mediation — looks to have emerged stillborn, with threats of resignation and criticism from both sides already eroding the body’s standing, just days into its mandate. One member, Smail Lalmas, has already left the body.
The panel, with members pulled from Algeria’s civil society groups, was established by interim President Abdelkadir Bensalah on July 25. It was charged with finding a common course between the apparently irreconcilable agendas of the Algerian state and the mass protests movement, or hirak, calling for its ejection. However, just five days after its formation, a spokesperson for the new body was already threatening its dissolution should the state refuse to respond to its preconditions for dialogue.
