Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune
ALGIERS, ALGERIA >> Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday dismissed the country’s prime minister and replaced him with the head of his cabinet as the country struggles with inflation and next year’s national elections approach.
The state news agency said in a statement Saturday that, after more than two years in office, Aimene Benabderahmne would be replaced with 73-year-old lawyer Mohamed Labaoui, a Tebboune ally who has headed the president’s cabinet since March.
Benabderahmne’s sacking comes three years into Tebboune’s tenure and is the latest upheaval to shape North African politics. In August, Tunisia’s president dismissed his prime minister, while the head of Algeria’s powerful state-run oil company and eight of his vice presidents were dismissed several weeks ago.
For Tebboune, the changing of the guard takes place at a time of economic anxiety and ahead of next year’s presidential elections. In Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 19 at U.N. headquarters. December 2024, Tebboune, 78, will ask voters to give him an another term leading Africa’s largest nation by geography — a country with a population of 44 million that spans nearly one million square miles including vast swaths of the Sahara desert rich with oil and gas.
Larbaoui, the incoming prime minister, rose from being an athlete on Algeria’s national handball team to a member of the country’s diplomatic corps, having served as Algeria’s ambassador to Egypt and the United Nations.