(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!
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The US has dropped an emergency plan that subjected air travelers from 14 countries, including Algeria, to stringent airport security checks.
By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 07/04/10
Algerian political leaders are voicing support for Washington's decision to halt an emergency aviation security plan that tightened security checks on US-bound citizens of 14 countries.
The list earned the US scathing criticism when it was announced after the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane by a Nigerian extremist last Christmas. Washington promised to re-examine the list after strong objections from Algiers.
Following the decision to axe the list, a spokesperson of the Workers Party, Ramdane Taazibt, told local press that the US had atoned for an error by adopting new security measures.
"We can only rejoice at this decision, which rectifies an injustice that had been done to both this country and others," said Taazibt, whose party had been among the list's critics.
The US embassy's information officer, John Brown, said he was happy that "a solution acceptable to Algerians and Americans has been found".
The new measures "will be applied to all passengers from all countries, in the same way," Brown said at an April 3rd press conference at the embassy in Algiers, adding that the decision to drop the list resulted from consultations with overseas partners including Algeria.
An official of the National Liberation Front welcomed the US changes. FLN official Said Bouhadja told reporters that the new security arrangements at American airports were "acceptable".
"Applying checks to all travelers purely on security grounds is acceptable," he added. "It's a measure that in no way violates human rights and which is a departure from the segregation to which certain countries were subjected."
US officials who unveiled the changes last week said that from now on, pieces of specific intelligence on terrorist threats would be matched to passenger lists. Travelers whose personal data raise concerns will face "secondary screening" such as body scans.
Support for the US move also came from the Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP).
"We condemned the initial decision to perform checks using body scanners on travelers from countries on the blacklist because we felt this was discriminatory, racist, humiliating and reflected a terrible xenophobia with no clear basis," said MSP spokesperson Mohammed Djamaa.
Algerian newspapers questioned the manner in which the list was initially drawn up. French-language newspaper Le temps d’Algérie editorialized, "There is no doubt that the US Secretary of State and her team of experts from the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon acted hastily, without making a sufficient assessment of the impact that such a measure might have on relations between Washington and the countries discriminated against."
Despite the frictions over the list, US ties with Algeria have warmed in recent years, amidst tighter security co-ordination and increased interest in bilateral trade and investment.
Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/07/feature-02.
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The US has dropped an emergency plan that subjected air travelers from 14 countries, including Algeria, to stringent airport security checks.
By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 07/04/10
Algerian political leaders are voicing support for Washington's decision to halt an emergency aviation security plan that tightened security checks on US-bound citizens of 14 countries.
The list earned the US scathing criticism when it was announced after the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane by a Nigerian extremist last Christmas. Washington promised to re-examine the list after strong objections from Algiers.
Following the decision to axe the list, a spokesperson of the Workers Party, Ramdane Taazibt, told local press that the US had atoned for an error by adopting new security measures.
"We can only rejoice at this decision, which rectifies an injustice that had been done to both this country and others," said Taazibt, whose party had been among the list's critics.
The US embassy's information officer, John Brown, said he was happy that "a solution acceptable to Algerians and Americans has been found".
The new measures "will be applied to all passengers from all countries, in the same way," Brown said at an April 3rd press conference at the embassy in Algiers, adding that the decision to drop the list resulted from consultations with overseas partners including Algeria.
An official of the National Liberation Front welcomed the US changes. FLN official Said Bouhadja told reporters that the new security arrangements at American airports were "acceptable".
"Applying checks to all travelers purely on security grounds is acceptable," he added. "It's a measure that in no way violates human rights and which is a departure from the segregation to which certain countries were subjected."
US officials who unveiled the changes last week said that from now on, pieces of specific intelligence on terrorist threats would be matched to passenger lists. Travelers whose personal data raise concerns will face "secondary screening" such as body scans.
Support for the US move also came from the Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP).
"We condemned the initial decision to perform checks using body scanners on travelers from countries on the blacklist because we felt this was discriminatory, racist, humiliating and reflected a terrible xenophobia with no clear basis," said MSP spokesperson Mohammed Djamaa.
Algerian newspapers questioned the manner in which the list was initially drawn up. French-language newspaper Le temps d’Algérie editorialized, "There is no doubt that the US Secretary of State and her team of experts from the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon acted hastily, without making a sufficient assessment of the impact that such a measure might have on relations between Washington and the countries discriminated against."
Despite the frictions over the list, US ties with Algeria have warmed in recent years, amidst tighter security co-ordination and increased interest in bilateral trade and investment.
Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/07/feature-02.
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