Algeria

Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (Jumhuriya al-Jazairiya ad-Dimuqratiya ash-Shabiya) is a country in North Africa, the largest of the countries that make up the Maghreb region.

Algeria was controlled by the French from the early part of the 19th century until, after 8 years of fighting between French forces and nationalists led by the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), independance was conceded by France.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in office since April 1999, and was re-elected in 2009 after the government had ammended the constitution to remove restrictions on presidential term limits.