News from Algeria 2007

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Algeria: Algeria's army has launched a public relations campaign aimed at convincing ordinary citizens to help eradicate terrorist groups — plastering propaganda posters in regions where cells are known to operate.

The posters call on people to turn in militants, principally those from the country's main Islamic insurgency movement, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC.

"The evolution of your country and its prosperity depend fundamentally on its stability and security, which are a duty for all Algerian men and women, regardless of differences in their opinion," read one poster in the village of Ain El Hammam, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the capital, Algiers.

The GSPC is the only substantial group left from an Islamic insurgency triggered in 1992, when the Algerian army stepped in to prevent a likely legislative election victory by the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front party. The ensuing fighting has left an estimated 150,000 people dead.

The group, which is affiliated with al-Qaida, rejected a Charter for Peace and Reconciliation that seeks to turn the page on the past. The plan, passed in a 2005 referendum, included a pardon for some convicted terrorists and an amnesty for militants who turned themselves in.

Large-scale violence in Algeria died down in the late 1990s, but skirmishes have continued in recent months, particularly in GSPC strongholds in the center and east of the country.

The posters, which are concentrated mostly in those areas, feature three phone numbers where callers can provide security forces with tips on militants' location and movements.

Poster campaign by Algerian army urges citizens to help fight terror

[Al-khiyal]

La maire de Milan, Mme Letizia Moratti, effectuera les mardi et mercredi prochains (23 et 24 janvier) une visite à Alger dans le cadre de la promotion de la candidature de la cité lombarde à l’exposition universelle de 2015, a appris hier l’APS de source diplomatique. Mme Moratti, qui sera accompagnée d’une très forte délégation, dont le sous-secrétaire d’Etat aux affaires étrangères M. Vittorio Craxi, mettra à profit cette campagne de promotion et de sensibilisation de la partie algérienne pour examiner avec les responsables algériens les possibilités d’une coopération entre la capitale lombarde et une collectivité territoriale algérienne dans les domaines de la culture, du tourisme, du sport et de l’investissement dans les infrastructures de base, souligne-t-on. Parmi les membres de la délégation figure également le directeur des centres de formation et des écoles de football à l’étranger (Inter Campus) de l’Inter de Milan, club qui avait manifesté il y a quelques mois son grand intérêt pour l’ouverture de structures similaires en Algérie.

Plusieurs pays européens, notamment, ont d’ores et déjà apporté leur soutien à la candidature de Milan pour ce grand événement universel, dont le slogan est «Nourrir la planète, énergie pour la vie». Après le retrait de Toronto (Canada), la Turquie, avec la ville d’Izmir et son slogan «Nouvelles voies vers un monde meilleur/Santé pour tous», est également candidate officielle à l’organisation de l’Expo Universelle de 2015. Expo 2015 sera la deuxième Expo Universelle du XXIe siècle, après Shanghai, actuellement en cours de préparation sous le thème «Meilleure Ville, Meilleure Vie».

La maire de Milan attendue mardi prochain à Alger

[Al-khiyal]

Samedi 20 janvier 2007 - - Le président de l'Assemblée nationale Jean-Louis Debré a entamé hier soir une visite en Algérie, porteur d'un message de Jacques Chirac au chef de l'Etat algérien Abdelaziz Bouteflika, faisant renaître l'espoir d'une relance du traité d'amitié aujourd'hui en panne. Ce déplacement officiel de quatre jours, le premier d'un président de l'Assemblée nationale française depuis l'indépendance de l'Algérie en 1962, s'inscrit « dans le cadre de la coopération parlementaire », a-t-on assuré au Palais-Bourbon. Le programme de la visite comprend en effet un entretien entre M. Debré et son homologue Amar Saadani, la signature d'un protocole-cadre de coopération parlementaire et une allocution devant les députés algériens. Mais au-delà du volet parlementaire, le déplacement à Alger de ce fidèle de Jacques Chirac, à quelques mois de la fin du quinquennat, suscite l'intérêt tant à Paris qu'à Alger, d'autant que le traité d'amitié entre les pays semble au point mort. Voulu par les deux chefs d'Etat et annoncé lors de la visite de Jacques Chirac en Algérie en 2003, ce traité de « partenariat d'exception » n'a pu être signé en raison de la polémique suscitée par la loi française du 23 février 2005, dont un article, abrogé depuis, évoquait le « rôle positif » de la colonisation. Jusqu'en juillet 2006 encore, le président algérien réclamait des « excuses officielles » de la France pour les « crimes » commis durant la colonisation.

Debré émissaire à Alger

[Al-khiyal]

Taipei - Taiwan is to tighten visa restrictions on citizens from 10 countries starting in February, the Foreign Ministry announced Saturday.

The 10 countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Somalia and Syria, the ministry said in a statement.

From February 1, citizens from these countries must find a Taiwan citizen or organization to sponsor them when applying for a visa to enter Taiwan.

'They can apply for visa at Taiwan's representative office abroad, and the office will pass on their Visa Application Number to their Taiwan sponsor, who will go to the Foreign Ministry's Bureau of Consular Affairs to sponsor the applicant,' the statement said.

The ministry did not give a reason for tightening restrictions, saying only that issuing visas is an act of sovereignty, and the government does not need to explain requirements on visa application.

Taiwan usually handles visa issuance on a reciprocal basis. None of the 10 countries have diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

However, it was unclear whether the new measure is in retaliation for their visa requirements for Taiwanese nationals or a bid to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Taiwan tightens visa requirements for citizens from 10 countries

[Al-khiyal]

Poster campaign by Algerian army urges citizens to help fight terror

Au moment où les autorités invitent les habitants à s’impliquer dans la lutte antiterroriste:

1500 citoyens revendiquent leurs armes saisies par les Douanes

[Al-khiyal]

The Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), an Algerian terrorist group that has aligned with al-Qaeda, produced an 8:41 minute video depicting the preparation and culminating bombing on a bus carrying employees of the Halliburton subsidiary in Algeria, Brown & Root-Condor. This video was issued by the GSPC today, Sunday, January 21, 2007. The group had issued a statement on December 11, 2006 claiming responsibility for this attack, which occurred in the city of Bouchaoui, near the capital Algiers, and killed the bus driver and wounded several others, including at least four Britons and one American. Interestingly, the GSPC published an article in the eighth issue of its magazine published a few months before, warning those companies that participate in the “plunder” of the Muslims’ wealth in Algeria.

Opening the video is past statements from al-Qaeda leaders, Usama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which they warn of attacks to be wrought upon those states and supporters who transgressed upon Muslims lands in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine. The inclusion of these individuals and these particular words presents the GSPC as operating within the al-Qaeda network and mission. During the course of the film, the group outlines its strategy in showing the reconnaissance and study of the area of the bombing, manufacture of the explosive and detonating device, and ultimately, the successful attack. Displayed on screen are the results of the operation, claiming that all twenty-five passengers of the bus, most of them American, were killed or injured, and the Brown & Root-Condor company was dissolved on Sunday, January 17, 2007.

Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) issues video of bombing targeting Halliburton-subsidiary employees in Bouchaoui, Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Khartoum, Jan. 21 (SUNA)-President of the Republic Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir has received a congratulatory cable from the Algerian President, Abdul-Aziz Boutafliqa on the occasion of the advent of the new Hijri Year.

Algerian President congratulates President Al-Bashir