News from Algeria 2007

[Al-khiyal]

IAEA's ElBaradei: No nuclear bombs

[Al-khiyal]

Islamist group wants attacks on French in Algeria

France says it is taking Algerian extremist threats seriously

[Al-khiyal]

Cairo, (SANA)- Minister of Communications and Technology Amro Nazir Salem on Tuesday said that informatics and the extension in the use of new telecommunication equipment have been positively reflected on the Arab citizen who became capable of knowing the up-to-date information.

"Information technology (IT) and internet effectively contributed to creating new job opportunities for people, particularly the youth through linking between work market and work searchers," Minister Salem told a SANA correspondent in Cairo.

He added "the expansion in the use of IT and internet narrowed the gap in knowledge among people."

The Minister arrived in Cairo to take part in the extraordinary meeting of Arab Communication Ministers' Council due here on Wednesday.

Activities of the 21st session of the Executive Bureau Arab Communication Ministers Council started on Tuesday with the participation of the Arab Bureau member countries.

The session is preparing the agenda of the extraordinary meeting of the Council due tomorrow including a number of issues and topics, on top, modernizing the Arab strategy of communications and information and discussion of an Algerian suggestion to launch an Arab satellite to monitor the Earth.

The Council Executive Bureau includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Oman, Iraq and Lebanon.

[Al-khiyal]

Algerian authorities recover stolen archaeological works

Il a été découvert à Souk Ahras des restes de squelette humain datant de l’époque romaine, à El-Kala des pièces de monnaie en or datant de près de 1 000 ans, et des pierres précieuses de la même époque romaine… Tous les objets retrouvés par les éléments de la gendarmerie, suite à des investigations poussées, proviennent de sites archéologiques pillés par des contrebandiers.

La lutte contre ce genre de trafic, déclenchée depuis l’année dernière par les éléments de la Gendarmerie nationale, a permis de mettre à nu une véritable organisation de malfaiteurs spécialisée dans le trafic d’objets de valeur pillés dans des sites classés patrimoine historique national et international.

Ce réseau de contrebandiers composé de plusieurs dizaines d’éléments ne se contente pas de piller les sites et de voler les pièces archéologiques qui s’y trouvent, mais également de monter un circuit de commercialisation dont les ramifications s’étendent au-delà des frontières.

Le lieutenant-colonel de la Gendarmerie nationale, M. Boudraa Bakhti, chargé des brigades de lutte contre ce genre de pillage, indique que près de 1 127 objets archéologiques, dont une centaine de pièces de monnaie ont pu être récupérés.

Mieux encore, puisque les services de la gendarmerie des différentes régions, notamment de l’est du pays, ont découvert des vols de pierres précieuses datant de l’époque romaine, des vols de restes de squelette humain, à Souk Ahras, datant de la même époque romaine, et d’autres de pièces de monnaie en or, à El-Kala.

La gendarmerie a également réussi à dévoiler certaines pratiques illégales commises par des entrepreneurs en bâtiment qui implantent leurs entreprises sur des sites classés patrimoine national, et ce sans ce soucier de l’importance historique du site.

Bien que les régions de Constantine et de Sétif soient les plus touchées par cette situation, un ensemble de quinze wilayas sont concernées par ce genre de pillage et de trafic. Les régions de l’Est et du Sud algériens, connues pour receler un véritable trésor archéologique à ciel ouvert, sont également exposées aux actes des «touristes» étrangers qui ne sont, en réalité, que des trafiquants de tous bords, venus piller les richesses algériennes sans épargner les ressources naturelles comme le corail.

Même si les services de sécurité ne le dévoilent pas afin de ne pas entraver le déroulement des enquêtes, une vingtaine de touristes ayant des comportements suspects se seraient rendus durant l’année 2006 sur des sites touchés par les pillages.

C’est une véritable atteinte qui vise la destruction du patrimoine archéologique de l’Algérie, et qui s’étend à d’autres régions du Maghreb.

Récupération d’un patrimoine culturel et archéologique de 1,200 pièces

[Al-khiyal]

The association of "Algerians formerly sentenced to death by France" wants to formally lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) for reparations, Algerian News Agency reported on Tuesday.

"The association launched an appeal to lawyers to help in compiling a file for the 360 Algerians sentenced to death and executed by French colonial authorities" during the Algerian war ( 1954-1962), Mustapha Boudina, president of the association told the news agency.

The undertaking was "legitimate from the moment that France had recently acknowledged that what took place in Algeria was not a set of events but a war," he emphasized.

The war of Algeria had been characterized as a police operation by French authorities for decades and it was finally recognized by the French parliament about 15 years ago.

"It is the duty of Algerians to demand reparation from France for executing 202 Algerians by beheading and a further 158 by shooting in a travesty of justice," in violation of the Geneva Convention on war prisoners, added Boudina.

According to the association, 1,800 Algerian victims were sentenced to death during the Algerian war, 360 of them being executed, "not counting victims of summary and extrajudicial killings."

Algerian association to lodge complaint against France on colonial killing

[Al-khiyal]

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania: Security forces have arrested three men suspected of belonging to an al-Qaida-linked Algerian militant group and of attacking a Mauritanian army barracks in 2005, police said Wednesday.

The three men were arrested in the capital, Nouakchott, on Monday, said Police Chief Mohamed Vall Ould Taleb. He said police had been following them for some time.

The men — whose names were not released — were charged with belonging to Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French acronym GSPC. The group recently announced it had established links to al-Qaida and threatened American and French supporters of the Algerian government.

The group claimed responsibility for a June 2005 attack on an army barracks in the northwest African country that left 17 dead and wounded dozens. Taleb said seven of the 20 people originally sought in the attack are still free.

The arrests come days before the Dakar Rally off-road vehicle race travels through Mauritania on its way to Senegal's capital.

Mauritania arrests 3 suspected members of Algerian militant group

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS (Reuters) -- UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed ElBaradei called for a ‘negotiated end’ to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear disputes, Algeria's stated-owned El Moudjahid newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Asked about Iran nuclear issue, ElBaradei, who is on a visit to Algeria, replied: "In my opinion these questions can only be solved through direct negotiations between the parties concerned."

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also spoke of "creating a climate for bringing the concerned parties to the same table of negotiations in Iran," El Moudjahid said.

ElBaradei was speaking to Algerian reporters after meeting President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Africa.

Iran is pursuing a nuclear fuel program with the stated goal of producing electricity.

The UN Security Council, he said, eventually imposed some sanctions on Iran last month for failing to heed a UN demand to suspend its efforts to enrich uranium for atomic fuel.

Diplomats close to the IAEA say ElBaradei fears sanctions were imposed before chances for a negotiated deal were exhausted and could eventually drive Iran to bar UN inspectors and leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran says it has a right assured by its membership of the NPT to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear power.

Iran nuclear dispute needs negotiation: IAEA chief