A coalition of Algerian opposition parties has vowed to pursue its struggle for "real" regime change, warning Wednesday that the existing political impasse will cause the state to collapse.

The coalition of three Islamist parties and two others, including the fiercely secular Rally for Culture and Democracy, made its pledge at a meeting Tuesday attended by other opposition groupings and former prime ministers.

An Algerian man in his fifties has died of the MERS virus, the first such fatality in the country, the health ministry announced Tuesday.

The 59-year-old victim was among the first two cases of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus to be discovered in Algeria late last month.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius nodded off during a business meeting in Algiers, with his drooping head caught on camera and going viral on social media.

The scene, broadcast by Algeria's pro-regime television channel En-Nahar and lasting 75 sleepy seconds, shows France's top diplomat dozing off, re-awakening, smiling and then falling back to sleep several times.

Algeria jailed a man for two years on Monday for posting a video of policemen stealing in the desert region of Ghardaia, during ethnic violence that erupted late last year.

Youcef Ouled Dada was found guilty of "publishing photographs and videos which harm the national interest" and "contempt of the authorities".

Consultations opened Sunday to reform Algeria's disputed constitution, which President Abdelaziz Bouteflika amended to win a third term in office in 2008 and a fourth in April.

A revised charter, promised by Bouteflika after his re-election, would bar any future president from serving more than two consecutive terms and introduce several other changes.

Algeria reported its first two cases of the deadly MERS virus on Saturday, both among pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia, where most cases and deaths from the disease have been reported.

The two Algerian men, aged 66 and 59, had gone on a pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia, Algeria's health ministry said without giving further details about their condition.

An Algerian general on Monday warned of a "worrying" situation on the country's vulnerable borders, faced with chaos in neighboring Libya and northern Mali.

"The deteriorating security situation in the neighboring countries are all factors that require permanent vigilance and rigorous deployment," Boualem Madi told Algerian radio.

Mohammed is openly disdainful towards the hundreds of African migrants now entering Algeria in a bid to reach Europe as worsening violence makes transit through neighboring Libya ever more perilous.

Algeria has long prided itself on its African identity but the mounting influx of migrants from south of the Sahara has sparked a racist backlash, even in sections of the media, that has shocked traditionalists.

Two youths, one a Tunisian, were given six-month suspended sentences on Sunday for protesting against a fourth presidential mandate for Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika, their lawyers said.

Algeria has closed its embassy and its consulate in Tripoli because of a "real and imminent threat" to its diplomats, the foreign ministry announced on Friday.

The decision was taken in coordination with the Libyan authorities, after certain information was received "about the existence of a real and imminent threat targeting our diplomats and consular staff," the ministry said.