Algeria will closely monitor religious practices

Significance In February and before the holy month of Ramadan (March 10-April 9), President Abdelmadjid Tebboune formally inaugurated with much fanfare the Grand Mosque of Algiers, the world’s third-largest mosque. With memories of the 1992-2002 civil war between the government and Islamist rebels still vivid, neither freewheeling religious competition nor sweeping crackdowns on dissent appeal to the authorities as strategies to deal with religion in public life. Impacts Algeria will use religious outreach to increase its influence within Muslim countries in Africa. The United States and other Western countries could seek stronger counter-extremism cooperation with Algeria. Security authorities will double down on counter-terrorism efforts ahead of the presidential elections in September.