Algeria’s army is taking long and steady strides towards tightening its grip on power in the African state. After virtually standing behind the resignation of longtime president, Abdelazziz Bouteflika, the army moved to remove Intelligence Chief Bachir Tartag and annexing his position to the Defense Ministry. The newly created atmosphere, simply put, is propping up Army Chief of Staff Major General Gaid Salah as the country’s sole authority. State news agencies, earlier this week, had confirmed the firing of Tartag, who had served the post for over a decade. Salah is predicted to be the one behind Tartag’s sacking, given that the two have had a history of rivalries. Mustapha Bouchachi, a lawyer and political activist, did not rule out Salah seeking a power grab, and underlined that the army must seek to only accompany the transition to democracy in the coming period. Addressing Salah’s potential ambitions, Bouchachi noted that the Army chief cannot directly “interfere in politics, especially in the affairs of power.” As for the transition, Bouchachi said that the activists who led the 2019 will not accept any of the former regime’s loyalists remaining in power in the future. “They must all leave,” he stressed, adding that the constitution restricts Salah’s interim presidency 90 days only. Given that Tartag was appointed as intelligence chief by virtue of a presidential decree, the Algerian constitution stipulates that his dismissal must be conducted in a similar fashion. It is worth noting that Tartag, in 2015, was appointed as a successor to Major-General Mohamed Madin, who was known in the media as Tawfiq and had held the post since 1990. Following Tartag’s assignment, it was decided to attach the Intelligence Service – with its three branches internal, external, and technical security – to the Presidency of the Republic, instead of the Defense Ministry.