– Former French colony –Algeria became a French colony in 1830 after three centuries of Ottoman domination. He ran Algeria as a one-party state until his death in 1978. – Bouteflika clings to power –In 1999, at the height of the war, Bouteflika, backed by the army, won the presidential election. – Africa’s biggest country –A country of the Maghreb, Algeria is Africa’s biggest country. Algeria counts some 10 million Berbers, most living in Kabylie, a rebellious mountainous region to the east of Algiers.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 11, 2019 00:33 UTC