Daily life has ground to a halt in Ghardaia, a picturesque Algerian city on the edge of the Sahara turned into a ghost town by a wave of sectarian violence.

The UNESCO world heritage site, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Algiers, has been rocked since December by clashes between the Chaamba community of Arab origin and the majority Mozabites, indigenous Berbers belonging to the Ibadi Muslim sect.

Algeria's premier on Sunday visited a town on the edge of the Sahara where three people were killed in communal violence between Arabs and Berbers.

Prime Minister Youcef Yousfi was accompanied by Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz on the visit to Ghardaia, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Algiers, where they met with local leaders, according to the national news agency APS.

Supporters and opponents of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision to seek a fourth term in April elections staged rival demonstrations in the capital Algiers on Saturday.

The 77-year-old's decision to seek re-election had been expected despite concerns over his health after he was hospitalized for three months in Paris last year because of a mini-stroke.

The Pentagon said Thursday it had transferred an inmate from the Guantanamo prison back home to Algeria, after holding him at the facility for 12 years without a trial.

The move brought the number of detainees at the military prison down to 154, as President Barack Obama tries to make good on a promise to close the controversial detention camp at a US naval base in southeast Cuba.

Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika appointed Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi as interim premier on Thursday, as outgoing Abdelmalek Sellal was formally tasked with running the ailing president's campaign for re-election next month.

The mini cabinet re-shuffle, which also saw former premier Ahmed Ouyahia named director of the president's office, came just weeks ahead of the election, which is likely to see the 77-year-old president secure a fourth term, despite serious concerns about his health.

Six candidates including long-time incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika have been approved to run in Algeria's April 17 presidential election, the head of a constitutional panel announced on Thursday.

Mourad Medelci, in a statement read out on public radio, listed the other candidates as Abdelaziz Belaid, Ali Benflis -- an independent who is considered the main challenger to Bouteflika -- Moussa Touati, Louisa Hanoune and Ali Fawzi Rebaine.

An Algerian cartoonist, prosecuted over an unpublished drawing poking fun at ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision to seek reelection, was acquitted on Tuesday, his lawyer told AFP.

"Djamel Ghanem was acquitted. Justice has been done after all the irregularities there were in this case. I'm very happy," lawyer Youcef Dilem said.

A Japanese minister said Sunday Tokyo wants to cooperate closely with Algeria to boost stability in the Sahel area, and praised its handling of a deadly militant desert raid.

Nobuo Kishi, Japan's senior vice foreign minister responsible for the Middle East, Europe and America, was speaking on his first visit to the North African nation.

Several dozen Algerians marked International Women's Day Saturday with a demonstration in Algiers to remember hundreds of women killed by Islamists in the 1990s.

The families of people who disappeared during the civil war that rocked the North African country held a separate protest to demand the truth about what had happened to their loved ones.

Security forces on Thursday arrested about 40 people protesting in central Algiers against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika standing for a fourth term next month, an AFP journalist said.

Public demonstrations in Algeria remain banned, despite a state of emergency being lifted in 2011, and a similar protest last week was also scattered.