Some predict the pandemic, which now leaves Algeria with Africa’s biggest reported death toll, may unravel the largely peaceful Hirak protest movement born early last year. “The Hirak is taking charge of the health crisis,” said Anissa Daboussi, Middle East and North African program officer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Indeed, the North African country ranks among the least prepared to respond to a health crisis, placing 173 out of 195 nations in a 2019 Johns Hopkins Global Health Security Index. “They come at a time when authorities need to win over public confidence to deal with this health crisis,” he said. “The increasingly obvious cracks in Algeria’s health systems, governance, and leadership will give the Hirak an opening to go beyond protest,” wrote Algeria expert Vish Sakthivel in a recent Middle East Institute article.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 18, 2020 02:38 UTC