President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has taken control of Algeria's security and intelligence services by forming a new leadership for the entire sector, newspapers reported Monday. The reports said a DSS agency has been set up to replace the powerful DRS intelligence agency, which is being dissolved.
Retired general Athman Tartag, an ex-security advisor to the president, is to head the DSS, newspapers reported.
He was named in September as successor to long-time DRS chief General Mohamed Mediene - better known as General Toufik - head of a shadowy intelligence service that many viewed as a "state within a state" in the North African country.
Bouteflika has established the DSS under a decree which has not been made public, according to the government daily EL-Messa.
There was no official confirmation of the reports.
Algeria's ailing 78-year-old leader thus places the entire security services under his direct control, with Tartag reporting back to him on the activities of all the country's intelligence services.