Mehri announces an initiative to “change” rather than “stepping down” the regime

Former Secretary General of National Liberation Front (FLN), Abdelhamid Mehri said on Tuesday that he has drawn up a political initiative for change, which involves three parties: President Bouteflika and the regime, the true opposition in addition to the people.


Mehri announced his initiative in a press conference held, Tuesday, at the headquarters of the opposition party Socialist Forces Front (FFS) in Algiers. He said that the initiative does not aim at “stepping down the regime,” but rather “to change the regime”. Although the initiative considers “the regime as an essential part of the equation; it does not tolerate the change to be dictated or carried out by this same regime or by President Bouteflika.” “Change has become inevitable, and our brothers in the regime have got this feeling too,” Mehri assumed, adding: “achieving this goal (change) cannot be reached through negotiation or limited compromise, but rather it should be an outcome of a comprehensive national dialogue which sets limits and deadline of such a change.” As whether he has received a reply from President Bouteflika after having notifying him of the initiative, Mehri indicated he still have neither met nor got a response from Bouteflika, saying: “As soon as I meet him, I’ll say it publically, because I hate working in secret!” Some said that the aforementioned initiative is a “play co-written by Mehri and his friend Hocine Ait Ahmed, president of FFS, “in order to save President Bouteflika regime.” Former FLN Secretary General said those analyses are “mistaken,” stressing “I don’t think I and Ait Ahmed are able to save the system, even if we would wish so.” He further concluded that this initiative of change was a fruit of one year bilateral concentrations with Ait Ahmed, pointing out “If my message has been sent to President Bouteflika, it is because I do respect his position, yet, changing the regime should be carried out by all political forces