Will Arab Disputes Postpone Algeria Summit?

Monday, 29 August, 2022

Disputes between Arab countries and differences over the reinstatement of Syria are threatening to postpone the upcoming Arab League summit, scheduled for Algeria in November.

Algeria has been preparing to host the 31st summit since 2019. It will be the first in-person summit for Arab leaders since the coronavirus pandemic.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stressed earlier this month that the summit will be a success “because it seeks Arab reconciliation after years of division and fragmentation.”

Syria’s return?

Algeria politician and lawyer Mohammed Adam Mokrani noted, however, that Syria’s return to the Arab fold will be among the main hurdles at the summit.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said that Algeria has for months been supporting Syria’s return seeing as it is founding member of the Arab League.

Syria was suspended in wake of its regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protests that broke out in 2011.

Syria’s return has not been advocated by all Arab countries. Mokrani suggested the issue could be put up to a vote during the summit so that it would not remain as a sticking point or a reason to postpone the meeting.

Moroccan former MP Adil Benhamza described the situation in the Arab world as “extremely divided”.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the pandemic was used as an excuse to postpone summits in the past, but it can no longer be used to justify repeated delays.

Several other issues could prompt the delay, among them the dispute over Syria’s return, he added.

Dr. Hassan Abou Taleb, of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said it would be “very difficult” to hold the summit given the “major disputes over how to handle Syria and Algeria’s efforts to end the boycott against it.”

There is no Arab consensus over this issue and leaders appear unwilling to even discuss it at the summit, he noted.

Hussein Haridy, Egyptian former Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Affairs, said it was “difficult to predict” whether the summit will be held on time.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that numerous developments have taken place in the Middle East since the last regular summit was held, so the Algeria meeting must be held to allow Arab leaders to agree on how to address them.

“Failure to hold the summit on schedule will send an unwanted message to regional and international powers that Arab leaders lack the joint will to address regional and international developments and pressing financial and political affairs,” he warned.

However, he said that Algiers’ insistence on reinstating Syria’s membership “in spite of the opposition of influential Arab powers” may ultimately lead to the postponement of the summit.

On the official level, Arab League Assistant Secretary General Hossam Zaki had last month stated that no specific time can be set regarding Syria’s return to the organization.

Its return is not imminent, but it is not far either, he said.

An Arab diplomatic source said this position has not changed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to Asharq Al-Awsat, the source confirmed that preparations are still underway to hold the summit on schedule in spite of Arab disagreements.

Maghreb tensions

Another sticking point at the summit is the tensions between Morocco, Algeria and recently Tunisia.

Rabat and Algiers had severed relations in wake of the dispute over the Western Sahara.

Over the weekend, Morocco summoned its ambassador to Tunis after Tunisian President Kaies Saied received Polisario Front movement chief Brahim Ghali.

Morocco said Tunisia's decision to invite Brahim Ghali to a Japanese development summit for Africa that Tunis is hosting this weekend was “a grave and unprecedented act that deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people”.

Tunisia, in response to Morocco's decision, announced it was recalling its ambassador to Rabat for consultation.

Tunisia's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement early on Saturday that the country maintains its complete “neutrality over Western Sahara issue in compliance with international legitimacy”.

In a terse foreign ministry statement, Morocco said it would no longer take part in the Africa summit. It also accused Tunisia of having recently “multiplied negative positions” against Morocco, and said its decision to host Ghali “confirms its hostility in a blatant way”.

Abou Taleb said relations between the Maghreb countries are “very strained”, posing a challenge for plans to hold any Arab summit.

The tensions may lead to countries even lowering their level of representation or calling for the delay of the meeting altogether, he added.

“The Arab region is boiling with tensions and crises, casting doubts that the summit will be held as scheduled,” he stated.

Mokrani and Benhamza speculated that Morocco may even skip the summit given its dispute with Algeria.

The diplomatic source stressed that Algeria was determined to hold the summit and would not allow disputes to hinder it even if it had to make concessions over Syria’s reinstatement.

Algeria wants to use the summit to demonstrate its “strong return to the international and regional scene. It may therefore abandon its demand over Syria to avoid being held responsible for the failure of the summit,” he explained.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3842626/will-arab-disputes-postpone-algeria-summit.

Algeria, Russia to Hold Anti-Terror Military Drills

Wednesday, 6 April, 2022

The Russian Southern Military District announced on Tuesday that joint anti-terror drills between Russian and Algerian ground forces will take place in Algeria in November, TASS reported.

The first planning conference was held in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz to prepare for the joint Russian-Algerian anti-terror military exercises, which are scheduled to be held at the Hammaguir base in southern Algeria, the press office of the Southern Military District said in a statement.

Both sides coordinated the scenarios of the drill and the logistics.

Maneuvers will consist of tactical moves to search for, detect and destroy illegal armed groups.

About 80 soldiers from the southern military region are expected to participate in the exercises.

“The plan of the combat drills of the forces of the Southern Military District for 2022 stipulates the participation of soldiers from the region in international exercises with units of the armed forces of Algeria, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Pakistan,” TASS added.

Algeria did not issue any official statement about the drills. However, sources interested in the Algerian-Russian military partnership said the objectives and outlines of the drills were discussed during Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Army Gen. Dmitry Shugaev’s visit to Algeria on March 25.

Shugaev held talks with Chief of Staff of the Algerian army Lieutenant General Said Chanegriha and discussed bilateral military cooperation, the Algerian defense ministry said in a statement, adding that they exchanged views on issues of common interest.

The Russian military official visited Algeria as part of a delegation that participated in a meeting of the “Algerian-Russian Joint Governmental Committee in charge of military and technical cooperation between the two countries.”

Algiers had acquired its military equipment and most of its weapons from the former Soviet Union since its independence in the 1960s.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3575791/algeria-russia-hold-anti-terror-military-drills.

Snow blankets Saudi Arabia and Algeria as temperatures plummet

January 19, 2021 

Snow fell in Saudi Arabia and Algeria at the weekend as temperatures plummeted to below freezing. Residents of the southern Aseer region in the Kingdom also saw an extremely rare snowfall on Thursday when temperatures dropped as low as minus 2o Celsius in the mountainous region, the lowest recorded level in half a century.

Local residents and foreigners rushed to the area to see the snow-covered desert and surrounding hills, reported GeoNews. Camels were pictured standing in heavy drifts of snow in the area around Aseer.

Saudi Arabians living in Tabuk close to border with Jordan have also reported unusual weather patterns this month. January is normally the coldest month in Saudi Arabia, with temperatures hovering around an average of 20oC. In Tabuk, however, they tend to fall to an average of 4oC during the winter months.

In North Africa, meanwhile, snow has also fallen in the north-western Algerian desert town of Ain Sefra. Photographer Karim Bouchetata captured the stunning sight of Saharan sand dunes covered in a thin layer of snow.

Temperatures in the town, known as the "Gateway to the Desert" due to its position in the Atlas Mountains almost 1,000 meters above sea level, dropped to minus 3oC on Wednesday. Ain Sefra also reported snow in 2018, for the third time in 40 years.

Snow is extremely rare in deserts, though not completely unknown. High pressure systems of cool air move over the deserts, picking up moisture on the way and causing very low temperatures.

Although desert snow usually melts very quickly, the freezing temperatures in Saudi Arabia and Algeria have meant that it has lasted longer than usual.

Last year, snow fell in Baghdad for only the second time this century. The last recorded snowfall in the city was in 2008, but many residents said it was the first time they had ever seen snow. The people of Baghdad are more used to heat than cold, experiencing temperatures of up 50oC during the summer months.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210119-snow-blankets-saudi-arabia-and-algeria-as-temperatures-plummet/.

Algeria Passes Constitutional Changes After Historically Low Turnout

2 November 2020

The referendum includes a limit on presidential terms, new powers for the parliament and a clause to let the army intervene outside Algeria's borders. Less than a quarter of the electorate turned out to vote.

Algerians approved a referendum on a revised constitution, the country's electoral commission said on Monday. The changes were touted as pro-democratic for imposing term limits and promising new civic freedoms.

Polls opened on Sunday, and after a historically low turnout, the referendum was passed with 66.8% of the votes cast, National Independent Elections Authority chief Mohamed Charfi told a press conference.

He had earlier announced a turnout of just 23.7% of the electorate -- a historic low for a major vote.

The changes approved in the referendum include presidential term limits, new powers for the parliament and judiciary and a clause to let the army intervene outside Algeria's borders.

Around 3.3 million voters backed the changes, while 1.6 million voted against them. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is hospitalized in Germany following reported cases of COVID-19 among his staff, touted the reform process as a way to satisfy the demands of members of the Hirak street protest movement. However, the group had called for a boycott of the referendum, which they said did not go far enough.

Tebboune had been elected in December in a poll with a turnout of just under 40%, the lowest in a presidential election since Algeria gained independence in 1962. The referendum comes almost 19 months after mass protests rocked Algeria and forced long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down.

A flawed referendum, say critics

Mass demonstrations led by the Hirak movement were carried out for months, demanding deep reforms to the ruling system. Protests were suspended in March due to the spread of coronavirus.

"The fact that the people were able to express themselves in total independence was another step in the construction of the new Algeria which began with the blessed Hirak," said Charfi.

However, the document was written by a committee of experts chosen by the regime, and maintains key appointments in the hands of the president. Additionally, critics and experts say that the new freedoms enshrined in the reform are not guaranteed.

The run-up to the vote also saw a string of arrests and court rulings against pro-Hirak activists, socail media users and journalists, according to the CNLD, a prisoners' support group.

Source: allAfrica.

Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/202011030018.html.

Algeria to activate expatriates to boost economy and development

September 8, 2020

The head of the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Paris, Kassi Ait Ali, has announced that the ambitious Algerian-French economic partnership projects are to be revived, Al-Shorouk has reported. None of these projects have materialized to date.

Algerian businessmen based in France seek to contribute to this revival as the North African country attempts to utilize the skills, qualifications and networks of expatriates in order to boost the economy and national development.

Negotiations are expected to start between the government in Algiers and a large number of Algerian businessmen in France involved in various fields in order to encourage them to invest in their homeland. The government’s preoccupation with economic recovery is expected to speed up the process, despite the restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Efforts are being made in France among Algerian expatriates to reorganise and coordinate their work. This is happening in conjunction with a new authority created by the Algerian presidency a few months ago for development and international cooperation. The head of the new body is Mohamed Chafik Mesbah, regarded as one of Algeria’s most competent statesmen.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200908-algeria-to-activate-expatriates-to-boost-economy-and-development/.

5 candidates for Algeria's contested presidential vote

November 02, 2019

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria's electoral body Saturday announced five candidates for the Dec. 12 presidential election, including two former prime ministers and all products of the system challenged by months of pro-democracy protests.

The electoral authority validated the candidacies of former prime ministers Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and two former ministers, one of them a moderate Islamist, plus the head of a small party.

The elections are to replace former longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to resign in April after protests and a stern warning from army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, who has emerged as the country's authority figure.

Protesters had opposed Bouteflika's planned bid for a fifth term after 20 years in power and now want to dismantle the corruption-ridden system that kept him in office and the long-standing, if often shadowy, role of the military at the top. Bouteflika was Algeria's first civilian president since the nation's first leader after independence from France in 1962, Ahmed Ben Bella, was deposed in a coup.

Besides the two former prime ministers running in next month's presidential election, the other candidates are: former tourism minister and moderate Islamist, Abdelkader Bengrina; former culture minister and current interim secretary of the RND party that was in the governing coalition, Azzedine Mihoubi; and the head of the El Moustakbel (Future) party close to the FLN, also in the ruling coalition, Belaid Abdelaziz.

The announcement came a day after tens of thousands of Algerians marched for a 37th consecutive week to demand an end to Algeria's post-colonial political system. Protesters say they don't trust those currently in power to ensure democratic elections, citing their past links to Bouteflika.

The five who will run were among 23 people who tried to run for the presidency but fell short of the requirements. Rules for candidates included gathering 50,000 signatures from citizens on voting lists from at least 50 regions.

Algeria Postpones Presidential Vote After Contenders Disqualified

2 June 2019

Algeria has postponed presidential elections planned for next month after the two candidates were disqualified. The polls were to elect a successor to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned after pressure from protesters.

Algeria's Constitutional Council announced Sunday that it would be "impossible" for the presidential vote to go ahead on July 4 because the only two candidates in the race had been rejected.

The elections were planned after mass pro-democracy protests and pressure from the military forced long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down in April.

Algerians have been holding marches for months, calling for political reforms and a clear break from the elite that dominated politics during Bouteflika's two decades in power. The protesters have also demanded the polls be delayed over fears of vote rigging.

Two candidates rejected

Only two, largely unknown, candidates lodged bids by the deadline last week. The council said it had knocked back both application but did not explain why.

"Based on this decision, it is impossible to conduct the presidential elections on July 4," the council said in a statement, according to Algeria's official news agency APS.

The council added that it was now up to interim President Abdelkader Bensalah to set a date for a new vote. Bensalah had been appointed interim leader until July 9, but protesters say they want him gone.

On Friday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in the capital, Algiers, and other cities to demand his resignation, along with that of Bouteflika ally, Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/201906030002.html.

Algeria to hold first post-Bouteflika presidential election July 4

By Darryl Coote
APRIL 11, 2019

April 11 (UPI) -- Algeria's newly appointed interim leader set July 4 to hold the presidential election following last week's resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Senate leader Abdelkader Bensalah, 77, made the televised announcement Wednesday, according to state-run media Algeria Press Service, which comes a day after Algerian lawmakers appointed him the nation's interim president for the next 90 days.

Bensalah, who is unable to run in the election, also announced plans to create a "sovereign" body with both politicians and civil society in order to foster conditions necessary for an honest election process, Al Jazeera reported.

The announcement failed to placate protesters who have held mass demonstrations since February demanding a change in the country's leadership.

The protests first erupted after President Bouteflika announcement late February that he would be running for a fifth term.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika, who had held tight to the reigns of his country since 1999, resigned April 2, after Algeria's army chief said it would pursue a constitutional procedure to declare the ailing, wheelchair-bound president unfit to rule.

Despite Bouteflika's resignation, protests persisted as the public worried the country's rule would only shift to another member of the same regime, and Bensalah's appointment did little to assuage those concerns as he had served as Speaker of the Council under Bouteflika.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior, Local Authorities and National Planning announced through the state-run Algeria Press Service Wednesday that it had authorized 10 political parties and 22 national and inter-provincial associations.

The ministry said it had examined files on the different parties and associations on a case-by-case basis and allowed 10 political parties "to hold their constituent congresses in accordance with the provisions of the organic law on political parties" while "certificates of approval have been issued to 22 national and inter-provincial associations."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/04/11/Algeria-to-hold-first-post-Bouteflika-presidential-election-July-4/3061554973003/.

Merkel, Algerian officials discuss migration, Libya

September 17, 2018

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday during a one-day visit to the country to discuss migration and the situation in neighboring Libya.

Algeria's official APS news agency reported the meeting happened in the presence Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and other government members. The discussions take on particular significance before April's presidential election in Algeria. No candidate has yet emerged because everyone is waiting to learn whether Bouteflika, 81, partially paralyzed from a stroke and rarely seen in public, will seek a fifth term.

Bouteflika travelled to Switzerland earlier this month for medical check-ups. Algerian television channels showed images of Merkel and Bouteflika talking together. In a joint news conference, Merkel and Ouyahia said they agreed on a process to send about 700 Algerian migrants identified as illegally staying in Germany back to their country.

Ouyahia suggested that German airline Lufthansa should help with their transfer in addition to Air Algeria. Algerian authorities requested that no special flight is chartered, he said. "Algeria will take back its children staying irregularly in Germany," he said.

Merkel said they also discussed the situation in neighboring Mali and Libya, without providing details. Before the talks, Merkel visited the hilltop memorial to "martyrs" who died in Algeria's war of independence with France that ended in 1962.

Germany was Algeria's fourth-largest commercial partner in 2017, with 200 German companies working in various sectors in the North African country. This was Merkel's first visit to Algeria in a decade. Initially set for February 2017, it was postponed because Bouteflika was stricken with the flu.

Both countries also sought to deepen their economic cooperation. Mohamed Saidj, professor of political science in Algiers, told The Associated Press that Merkel's meeting with Bouteflika provided the Algerian president an occasion to "show his adversaries that he keeps assuming normally the prerogatives of his office."

Saidj stressed that Algeria has strong economic links with Germany especially in mechanical engineering, the auto industry, renewable energy, the chemical sector and pharmaceuticals.

Official warns of frenzied campaign against Algeria economy

June 19, 2018

The President of Algeria’s Agricultural Chamber in the El Oued Province, Bakar Hamid, said his country is experiencing a frantic propaganda campaign aimed at damaging the national economy.

The official made his remarks during an interview with local eChorouk newspaper after some countries returned agricultural products imported from Algeria.

Hamid explained that it is necessary to counter such campaigns with all available means so that Algeria can impose its presence in the global market to improve its economy.

He explained that none of the products exported from El-Oued province had been returned, adding, however, that one exporter has exported dates to 12 countries and none of them were returned.

Hamid added that Algeria applies international health standards and any product destined for export should be granted a health certificate in accordance with the agreement signed between the two countries.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180619-official-warns-of-frenzied-campaign-against-algeria-economy/.

Algeria reinforces its surveillance over its borders with Morocco

February 16, 2018

Algerian authorities announced they would increase the number of border surveillance posts on the Algerian-Moroccan borders by building 10 new posts “that will be added to the 24 surveillance posts it had set up in 2015 to activate control measures and stop smuggling between the two countries.”

Akhbar el-Yom newspaper, which reported the news on Thursday, stated that this move that it described as “dramatic,” comes “tighten electronic military surveillance by providing support to the work of the units that are in charge of guarding border security based on intelligence reports briefings”.

According to the same newspaper, “10 border Algerian posts will be built, and so the total number will jump to 24 security surveillance posts that Algeria has established over the past two years, under the pretext of strengthening surveillance and hindering the smuggling networks between the two countries.”

According to preliminary evidence, the Algerian border posts are to be established in six Algerian border towns: “Ghazaouet, Bab El Assa, Maghnia, Marsa Ben M’Hidi, Souani, and Beni Boussaid". These are classified as very sensitive border points by security reports, which are often used by widely-spread smuggling gangs.

The newspaper quoted military sources as saying that “the Algerian border posts will be supported by military engineering equipment and about 33 border surveillance cameras, and they will be tasked to track smuggling networks and ISIS’s (Daesh) terrorist groups and cover the large border crossings with surveillance devices that will be functional 24 hours a day non-stop.”

According to the same sources, the “Command of the Second Military Zone of the Border Guard formed a work and follow-up cell on the construction of border posts, which are scheduled to be opened before the end of April, to raise the border guards’ security vigilance and support them with new security equipment to combat organised and cross-continental crimes.”

The Algerian border posts will be built along the line of contact with the cities of Oujda, Berkane, Taourirt, as well as Jerada. The border guards will be increased to provide security information, control the movement of smuggling networks and face the terrorist threats that are coming from the Sahel and Sahara and that seek to break though the region.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180216-algeria-reinforces-its-surveillance-over-its-borders-with-morocco/.

Algeria doctors' union extends strikes

January 15, 2018

Algeria’s doctors have continued their strike until further notice following a week of protests in the country after a sit-in calling for better working conditions in the capital Algiers was dispersed violently by authorities.

The national office of the Autonomous Collective of Algerian Resident Doctors (CAMRA) said in a statement that its demands were discussed with the Minister of Health, Mokhtar Hasbellaoui.

The national CAMRA office said on Saturday that the national representatives of the group held its third meeting with Hasbellaoui in which the compulsory civil and military services were discussed.

A number of terms were agreed to by the Ministry of Health “verbally”, according to CAMRA which include more flexibility during civil service, the right to housing and transportation access and better training.

The Ministry of Health has reportedly not taken any decision yet on the lifting of compulsory civil service which doctors are expected to work following their graduation, for 4-5 years, and sent to remote places in the country with poor facilities and living conditions.

Hasbellaoui informed strikers that he had met with Deputy Defense Minister Gaid Salah to discuss the compulsory military service for men, promising a report as soon as possible.

He blamed hospital and health directors for the deterioration of the medical residents’ situation and deferred any responsibility for the recent demonstrations in the country’s main cities.

The Minister of Health also called on the Directors of Public Health to do all they can to benefit resident doctors so that they perform their civil service in the best conditions.

Last week, protest marches and solidarity sit-ins were organised by resident doctors in several regions in Algeria to make their voices heard and bring their demands to the country’s highest authorities.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180115-algeria-doctors-union-extends-strikes/.

Celebrating Berber new year marks shift in Algeria's identity politics

2018-01-08
By Lamine Ghanmi - Tunis

Algeria will become the first North African coun­try to celebrate the Ber­ber new year as a na­tional public holiday. The move signals a major shift in identity politics, which had been dominated by strife and tensions between the government in Algiers and most of the Berber-speaking population in the restive north-eastern Kabylie region.

Berber activists hailed Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s de­cision making the Berber new year day, Yennayer, a public holiday as the crowning achievement of a his­toric struggle and a victory against what they described as Algeria’s “cultural tyranny of Arabism and Arab Ba’athism.” The holiday will be on January 12 this year.

“Who would believe that under the leadership of this president, who had declared with an arro­gant and threatening tone that Tamazight will never be recognized as an official language, that this laguage would be enshrined in the constitution as a national and offi­cial language and Yennayer would be declared a national holiday and paid day off for all Algerians?” asked Ali Ait Djoudi, a veteran activist from the Berber Cultural Move­ment, in a message on social media.

Algerian writer Amin Zaoui said: “At last, Algerians are reconciling slowly with their history, their an­cestors and their identity.”

“There is a long way to climb the path of Lalla Dihya Kahena, Juba, Apulee, Massinissa and others,” he added, naming historical figures known for defense of Berber iden­tity and territory.

Algerian writer Kamel Daoud said: “The decision to make Yen­nayer a national holiday was to be hailed because it would help, over the long run, heal deep wounds and harvest fruits in the future.”

Analysts said Bouteflika an­nounced the recognition of the Berber holiday before the 12th an­niversary of the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation to strengthen social and political stability ahead of the presidential election next year.

The charter, proposed by Boutef­lika to end the civil war by offering amnesty for most acts of violence committed in the conflict pitting Islamist jihadists and the military, was endorsed by a referendum in 2005 and implemented in February 2006.

The conflict broke out in Decem­ber 1991 after the army-backed gov­ernment scrapped elections radi­cal Islamists were poised to win. It claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, mostly civilians killed by Islamists.

“The decision over Yennayer came in these moments of doubts and multiple crises. It reinforces the cohesion of the nation by putting an end to unnecessary misunderstand­ings that are the result of a govern­ance that lacked farsightedness and anticipation,” said Algerian writer Brahim Tazaghart.

It followed the recognition of the Berber language as an official and national language alongside Arabic.

“It is a historic and bold decision by President Bouteflika. It ends the dictatorship and obscurantism of the Ba’athist culture, which hurts us each day by brandishing its rac­ist concept of the Arab nation and spawning hatred within society and undermining the nation’s unity,” said Algerian MP Khaled Tazaghart from the Future Front party, an op­position group.

Language and culture issues go to the heart of Algeria’s identity. It has been a determining factor in rela­tions with other countries.

The French colonial authorities banned Arabic in primary schools in Algeria, dismissing it as a backward language. After independence, in 1962, nationalist leaders adopted an Arabisation policy to undo the lin­guistic legacy of 132 years of French occupation. Towards that end, they recruited thousands of teachers from Egypt and Syria to fill positions left by fleeing French teachers.

However, most of the Egyptian and Syrian teachers were members of the Muslim Brotherhood fleeing crackdowns by Arab national­ist leaders in Cairo and Damascus. Their massive presence in the edu­cation system sparked a backlash in parts of Algeria, especially in Berber-speaking areas, against what was perceived as Arab domination with claims that the Arab teachers had turned Algerian schools into “factories churning out fanatical Psalmists.”

The spread of Arabic influenced the Berbers for centuries, including from the 15th century and through the 17th century when Arabisation of Berbers was accelerated by waves of Andalusian refugees expelled from Spain.

Berbers maintained their tradi­tions, dialects and rituals even after accepting Islam as a religion, mainly in Morocco and Algeria. Their total number in the two countries is esti­mated at 28 million.

Gradually, Algeria has met the de­mands of advocates of Berber cul­ture and language.

A Berber uprising involving a school boycott in Kabylie region in 1995 by parents protesting that their children could speak but not write in their native language led Algerian officials to introduce the Tamazight language into primary education.

In 2002, the government recognized the language as a national one following a deadly protest. The lan­guage was recognized as a national and official language, on equal foot­ing with Arabic, in 2016.

Berber activists have called on the Algerian government to allocate funding to the promotion and the use of their language. Thousands took to the streets in December to back such a demand.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=86693.

Police clash with doctors protesting in Algiers

January 3, 2018

Algerian police prevented doctors from taking part in a protest outside the Mustafa Pasha Hospital in Algiers on Wednesday. The protesters’ demand include improved working conditions in the country’s hospitals and for the government to reconsider compulsory civil service.

The National Association of Independent Medical Practitioners organized the demonstration outside the hospital before the doctors tried to take their protest beyond the hospital grounds and into the streets. That is when they were blocked by the security forces.

A number of protesters were injured in the scuffles and arrested.

Over the past two years pharmacy, dental and medical students have taken part in a number of protests, sit-ins and hunger strikes demanding better services from the Ministry of Health and better prospects once they graduate. Many are forced to work in poor conditions with few employment rights and, despite promises from the Ministry to provide better services, the government has done little to improve the situation.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180103-police-clash-with-doctors-protesting-in-algiers/.

Algeria to introduce electronic elections in 2022

December 29, 2017

The Algerian Administration will be able to organize electronic elections as early as 2022, the interior ministry announced yesterday.

“We will be ready as an administration, to organize electronic elections, from the legislative elections of 2022,” Noureddine Bedoui said in an interview with Radio Algerie Internationale.

Bedoui further added that “2017 was the year of elections par excellence through the two important deadlines that were legislative and local”, he welcomed the “constitutional deadlines after disturbances in the past that have had negative results both nationally and internationally.”

However the election turnout since 2007 has been very poor with only a 30 per cent participation rate in some of the elections due to large distrust in the process and many instances of election fraud that have taken place.

In this light, the government is looking for ways to prevent the fraudulent process by adopting electronic elections. Regarding the criticism, according to Bedoui, measures adopted this year have allowed for a cleaner election and the removal of 1,300,000 names from the electorate owing to death or “multiple registrations”.

This year’s elections “were held in good conditions”, Bedoui said, adding that they allowed “the new constitutional values ??from the amended Constitution, namely democracy, freedom of expression, opinion and the press as well as the consolidation of the citizen’s place and all the legal conditions gathered through the revision of the electoral code.”

As well as the creation of the Municipal People’s Assemblies and Wilayas (APC / APW) in monitoring local elections, Bedoui added that more work is needed “in terms of support for new elected officials in terms of training and necessary instructions for local development and the creation of wealth on the basis of local potentialities”.

Bedoui praised the work done by the Independent High Electoral Monitoring Body (HIISE) this year and confirmed an evaluation of its work will take place to further improve the electoral system.

Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front party won legislative elections held in May this year though with decreased support compared to previous years. The election was marred by claims of fraud and only 35 per cent of Algerians voted in the election as many had little faith in the ballot box aligning their affairs and believed the outcome of the vote had already been decided.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-algeria-to-introduce-electronic-elections-in-2022/.

Algeria sets Berber New Year as public holiday

December 28, 2017

The Berber New Year of Yennayer will be recognized as a national holiday in Algeria for the first time on 12 January, it was announced yesterday.

The Council of Ministers met yesterday with President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and issued a statement announcing the new national holiday.

“By offering his best wishes to the Algerian people on the eve of the year 2018, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced his decision to devote Yennayer as a day off and paid as of January 12, the government being responsible for making the appropriate arrangements for this effect.”

The head of state “urged the government to spare no effort to generalize the teaching and use of Tamazight, in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution” and also instructed the government to accelerate the preparation of the draft law establishing an Algerian Academy of the Amazigh Language, according to the Council’s statement.

The idea behind this latest move is to strengthen “national unity and stability” at a time when the country faces threats from “multiple internal and regional challenges”, the President said.

In the last few weeks, Algeria’s Berber region has witnessed a number of protests after a proposed draft law making the Berber language compulsory in schools across the country was blocked by parliamentarians.

Tamazight was recognized as an official language of Algeria when the Constitution was amended in 2016.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171228-algeria-sets-berber-new-year-as-public-holiday/.

African Union chooses Algeria as counterterrorism coordinator

December 1, 2017

The African Union has chosen Algeria as the coordinator of its counterterrorism strategy. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his country were named by the chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, in an official announcement made in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Thursday.

Faki said that Algeria was chosen because of its “pioneering experience” in this area and its effective policy to combat extremism. “All African countries could follow Algeria’s experience in the fight against terrorism,” he added.

The AU official congratulated Algeria and President Bouteflika for their efforts in coordinating the bloc’s efforts towards preventing and combating terrorism.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171201-african-union-chooses-algeria-as-counterterrorism-coordinator/.

Algeria refuses to join Saudi-led Muslim Military Alliance

November 30, 2017

Algeria has joined Iran, Syria and Iraq and refused to join the Saudi-led Muslim Military Alliance, The Algeria Daily reported on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia leads two alliances including one against Houthi rebels in Yemen in addition to the Muslim Military Alliance.

While Saudi Arabia and its allies brand Lebanese Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen as terrorist organizations, Algeria does not agree with this position and maintains relations with Saudi Arabia at the same time with its rival, Iran.

The newspaper reported retired Algerian Colonel, Abdul Hamid Al-Sharif as saying that the alliance is an alliance of aggression that represents the conflicts of interests raging in the region which Algeria refuses to be part of.

Meanwhile, security expert, Ahmad Azimi said in a statement that the Muslim Military Alliance does not mean anything to Algeria because the member states are under Western influence.

“If the goal of the alliance is to liberate and defend Arab countries then we welcome it, but if it aims to attack Muslim countries then Algeria cannot be part of its”.

Saudi Arabia announced on December 14, 2015 the formation of the Anti- Terrorism Muslim Military Alliance with the participation of 41 countries, including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Egypt.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171130-algeria-refuses-to-join-saudi-led-muslim-military-alliance/.

Refugees in Algeria yearn for homeland

2017-11-04

ALGIERS - Selembouha Dadi can only imagine the homeland she dreams of but has never seen, agonizingly out of reach beyond the Algerian refugee camp where she has spent her whole life.

"They tell me it was beautiful," the 25-year-old said.

The territory that Dadi yearns for is Western Sahara, a sprawling swathe of desert on Africa's Atlantic coast that has been disputed by Morocco and independence fighters from the Polisario Front for decades.

Her father Moulay abandoned everything and fled 42 years ago when Moroccan troops arrived in 1975 during the rush to claim the former Spanish colony as Madrid let it go.

Now, along with tens of thousands of other refugees, their family of nine lives in one of a string of refugee camps just 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, beyond the Algerian border and a "defense wall" erected by Morocco in the 1980s.

Morocco and Mauritania were meant to share Western Sahara when Spain relinquished control, but in 1976 the Polisario proclaimed the independence of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic -- and was determined to fight for it.

Mauritania in 1979 gave up its claim, leaving Morocco to seize most of the 266,000 square kilometer (100,000 square mile) territory, but it was not until 1991 that a UN-backed ceasefire came into force.

Rabat considers Western Sahara an integral part of Morocco and proposes autonomy for the resource-rich territory, but the Algerian-backed Polisario Front insists on a United Nations-backed referendum on independence.

The 2,700-kilometer barrier erected by Morocco slicing from north to south divides the 80 percent of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco from the 20 percent held by the Polisario.

- 'Left everything behind' -

Moulay Dadi, 72, served tea in a large traditional tent, a vestige of the Sahrawis' nomadic past, and cooler than the nearby family cottage with its zinc roof.

He recalled his life back in his desert homeland herding the family's animals. He was 30 when the Moroccan forces arrived.

"We fled and we left everything behind us, our animals, our property, the houses," he said.

"We left everything behind us."

He settled in Algeria's Tindouf region with his wife and parents, who did not live to see their homeland again.

Some 100,000 Sahrawi refugees live today in the camps around Tindouf. They belong to a mosaic of nomadic tribes who have for centuries plied the sandy expanses of the Sahara with their camels.

The Dadi family's Boujdour camp, which, like the other camps, bears the name of an area of the Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, is dotted with brown-walled houses the color of the surrounding desert, one of the most inhospitable in the world.

Their home consists of a large living room, a small dining room and a kitchen. The shower and toilets are in a separate building.

There is intermittent electricity and no running water. Trucks pass regularly to fill a large canvas water reservoir.

Like the Dadis, many Sahrawis have set up traditional tents next to their houses in the camp, where life moves slowly.

After the morning prayer, Selembouha Dadi and her mother, in her sixties, cook and clean.

The youngest of the children, 12-year-old Mellah, goes to school.

Some of her brothers work on building sites and the others are in the army of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Sahrawi refugees in Algeria live mostly on funds from exiled relatives in Europe and on international aid.

The European Union provides some, $11.6 million (10 million euros) a year, despite the Polisario Front being accused of embezzlement in recent years.

Some residents have set up small shops -- groceries, bakeries, fruit and vegetable stalls -- in the camps.

Others work as officials for the SADR, which has its central administration in Rabouni, not far from Tindouf.

Isolated for decades and largely forgotten by the world, many Sahrawis still believe that they will one day return to the lands of their ancestors.

"We want our land whatever we find there," Selembouha said.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85763.

Algerians continue fight for justice for victims of the Black Decade

October 7, 2017

The collective of the families of the disappeared in Algeria (CFDA) and SOS Disparu launched the “Days against forgetting” campaign this week to mark the 12th anniversary of the National Reconciliation charter deal that ended the 1990’s civil war.

The campaign marked a week of meetings in which the families of the disappeared called for justice for their loved ones who disappeared during the civil war.

At a press conference held this week at the headquarters of the Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS) in Algiers, CDFA spokesperson Nacera Dutour, President of the Djazairouna Association Cherifa Kheddar, founding member of the collective SOS Disparus, Hacene Ferhati, and a mother of a missing person, Fatma-Zohra Boucherf, met to call on the Algerian government to do more to unveil the extent of the disappearances during the Black Decade and to highlight the threats against the victims who have campaigned tirelessly for the truth.

“We have faced several amnesties during the black decade and we continue to suffer the consequences,” Dutour explained citing the Reconciliation Charter decreed in 1995 by President Liamine Zeroual which was the foundation for the referendum of the Civil Concord in 1999 and the Charter in 2005 both initiated by current president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Boucherf affirmed Dutour’s comments on the Charter adding that it “advocates the forgetting and the silence of the victims”.

According to Boucherf, whose son has been missing for the last 25 years, the “Charter asks us to forget our children and turn the page” as “President Bouteflika wished in 1999, when he declared that our children were not in his pockets.”

The criticism of the Civil Concord is mainly driven by its foundation which prioritizes “impunity and forgetting” as oppose to coming to terms with the atrocities committed during the war and bringing those complicit to justice. Article 46 of the Concord which “threatens to imprison the victims who refuse to remain silent” is what the collective have been campaigning against in getting closer to knowing what happened during the war.

“We want to know what happened, how we got there, why an Algerian killed an Algerian, why did government agents kidnap Algerians. They are asking us to turn the page but every Algerian has the right to know its history,” Boucherf concluded.

Kheddar added that not only are the victims of terrorism and enforced disappearances ignored but also condemned to prison in punishment for their demands. “Apparently, all those who have not carried weapons or committed crime cannot benefit from this Charter,” she said.

The civil war began after democratic elections in the country were cancelled by the army after it became apparent that the Islamic Salvation Front would win a majority.

It would last ten brutal years, with depraved levels of violence recorded towards the latter part by both the military and secret services and militant groups guilty of senseless violence and massacres.

Around 200,000 Algerians would perish in the war, 18,000 would disappear and one million forced to leave the country.  The Concord and subsequent Charter would allow for many government agents to walk free due to the offered impunity which meant that no one was brought to justice over the atrocities in a desperate attempt to move on from the damaging war.

Kheddar renewed calls to propose an alternative charter to integrate new demands but the calls have remained unanswered by Algerian authorities. The National Charter Commission on the National Reconciliation has also not taken on the victims’ demands.

“Twelve years later, we are unaware of what this commission has become, what it has done, if it has contacted the victims,” she continued.

The government’s recent decision to broadcast graphic images and videos from the civil war for the first time on Algerian TV has been viewed as a scare tactic by the victims in keeping them silent. “They will strike us, beat us or scare us,” Boucherf said, because they are “afraid of the truth”.

As the country takes a turn for the worst due to its current economic woes and the government attempts to ease in reforms, public assurances in the government is running low.

By broadcasting images from the civil war the government hopes to remind Algerians of the face of terrorism and how placing their hopes in an alternative is likely to force the country into the same type of violence during the Black Decade.

One of the founding members of SOS Disparus also reiterated how the figures put forward in the past by Mustapha Farouk Ksentini, the former president of the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (CNCPPDH), have been much lower than the numbers of victims who have come forward, adding to the authority’s culpability in not adequately investigating the disappearances.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171007-algerians-continue-fight-for-justice-for-victims-of-the-black-decade/.