Ahmed Ouyahia (Arabic: أحمد أويحيى, romanized: Aḥmad ʾŪyaḥyā; 2 July 1952) is an Algerian politician who was prime minister of Algeria four times (1995–98, 2004–2006, 2008–2012, 2017–2019).
A career diplomat, he also served as Minister of Justice, and he was one of the founders of the Democratic National Rally (RND) as well as the party's secretary-general.
He is considered by Western observers to be close to the military of Algeria and a member of the "eradicator" faction in the 1990s civil war against Islamist militants.
Having scored among the top three applicants, along with Ahmed Attaf, Ouyahia joined the National High Studies School of Administration and specialised in diplomacy.
The economic condition of Algeria in the late 1990s, as well as a wave of public sector strikes, contributed to his increasing unpopularity as Prime Minister[6][7] and his December 1998 resignation.
[1] During this time Ouyahia was assigned the task of securing a peace deal in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea by Bouteflika, who was also the president of Organisation for African Unity in 2000.
[1] A strong defender of the government, in February 2001, Ouyahia proposed new laws as justice minister which would have imposed a three-year prison term for authors of articles or drawings deemed "defamatory" to political leaders.
only after the officially recognized UGTA affiliate National Federation of Education Workers (FNTE) joined the strike did the agree to raise wages.
[13] In June 2005, Ouyahia called Al-Jazeera television, recently closed indefinitely by his government, "a channel whose sole aim was to tarnish Algeria's image."
In particular, prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia reached agreement on a number of Kabylie grievances with Arouch leader Belaid Abrika, who had been physically assaulted during a public protest rally and seriously injured in 2004 by members of government security services.
[20] After some prominent involvement in international diplomatic meetings earlier in 2008, Ouyahia was again named Prime Minister by Bouteflika on 23 June 2008.
[27][28] In March 2019, Ouyahia resigned from his position as prime minister following President Bouteflika's announcement that he would not seek reelection following protests across the country.