As young women emerge in chatter-Ling, self-confident groups from the university building on the Didouche Mou-rad Boulevard in Algiers, it might seem that the country's decade-long nightmare of violence never happened. These students were toddlers when the first-round election victory of an Islamist party in 1992 brought army tanks onto the streets. Up to 200,000 people may have been killed in the eight years of strife that ensued. Today's students may have just left primary school when Abdelaziz Bouteflika was declared president in 1999, amid claims of electoral fraud. Now, it seems, he is to lead their country for yet another five years, due to a constitutional amendment to letrnhim run for a third term. His re-election is expected on April 9th, despite a handful of well-vetted opponents. Mr Bouteflika is bent on staying in power despite reports of bad health that have dogged him for years.
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