Algeria leader replaces powerful intelligence chief

Algiers (AFP) - Algerian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika has replaced his powerful intelligence chief, the presidency said on Sunday, in the latest move in a shake-up of the security forces.

The presidency said in a statement that General Mohamed Mediene, better known as Toufik, had been replaced by his deputy General Bachir Tartag after heading the DRS intelligence service for 25 years.

Bouteflika replaced Mediene "in line with the constitution" and using his prerogatives as president and defence minister, the statement said, confirming information given to AFP by a security source.

It said Mediene had "retired", but provided no further details.

The 76-year-old had never appeared in public, but on Sunday his picture was published for the first time by a local newspaper, En-Nahar, showing him in a suit and tie.

General Toufik was the last serving general from among a line of top officers behind a crackdown against the radical Islamic Salvation Front after the FIS swept to victory in elections in the early 1990s.

The army stepped in to stop the vote, prompting an insurrection among Islamists and the start of a brutal civil war that lasted nearly a decade and killed 200,000 people.

During that time, the DRS rose as a powerful agency and its head, Mediene, became one of the most powerful men in the oil-rich North African country.

The announcement of his replacement came a day after Bouteflika's chief of staff confirmed the arrest last month of the former head of counter-terrorism.

Abdelkader Ait-Ouarabi, a close ally of Mediene and better known as General Hassan, had previously been the DRS chief and embodied the army's fight against Islamist groups for two decades.

The daily Al-Watan revealed the arrest of General Hassan at the end of August, saying he was detained at his home and taken to Blida military prison south of Algiers.

- 'State within a state' -

General Hassan's arrest came several weeks after the sacking of three security chiefs including two considered close to Mediene -- the head of counter-intelligence and the chief of presidential security.

Experts have said the arrest and sackings are part of a behind-the-scenes power struggle between Bouteflika and the powerful DRS.

Analysts say recent moves have tilted the balance in favour of the tight circle around Bouteflika and his army chief of staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah, at the expense of a rival faction centred on Mediene.

According to political science professor Rachid Tlemcani, "The battle is coming to an end and President Bouteflika has defeated the shadowy power" -- a reference to the DRS.

Echoing many, he described the intelligence service as "a state within a state".

Over the past 18 months, the DRS had already lost many of its powers -- including the right to carry out judicial probes into corruption -- and some of its responsibilities have been transferred to the army.

These developments come as Algeria faces many challenges.

More than two decades after the civil war the army continues to be at the forefront of a campaign against jihadists.

Armed Islamist groups are still active in the country, where in 2013 a four-day siege by Islamists of the In Amenas gas plant left 38 hostages dead, all but one of them foreigners.

Algeria also faces a financial crisis, compounded by weaker oil prices. Last week the central bank said foreign reserves had fallen by 11.1 percent in the first six months of 2015.

The 78-year-old Bouteflika, who has ruled Algeria since 1999, has the power to sack any security official or force him into retirement.