Algeria appointed its fifth gendarmerie chief since 2019 on October 8, the latest in a relentless succession of sackings, arrests and exiles that has swept through every major branch of the country’s security establishment. Under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief Saïd Chengriha, the intelligence services, gendarmerie and police have undergone more than 20 leadership changes, while dozens of generals have ended up in Blida military prison. A name-by-name, date-by-date account of how instability has become a method of rule.
