News from Algeria 2008

[Al-khiyal]

Mali :
le médiateur algérien parle avec le président et le chef rebelle tergui

Vendredi 23 Mai 2008 -- L'ambassadeur d'Algérie au Mali, médiateur dans la crise opposant le gouvernement malien à des rebelles touareg, a pris contact avec le président de la République et le chef rebelle Ibrahim Ag Bahanga pour relancer le processus de paix, ont indiqué vendredi leur entourage respectif.

"L'ambassadeur d'Algérie (Abdelkrim Gheraieb) a été reçu ce vendredi par le président Amadou Toumani Touré pour relancer le processus de paix", a déclaré à l'AFP une source proche de la présidence de la République malienne. Selon la même source, "les échanges se sont déroulés dans une bonne ambiance. Le président malien a réaffirmé la nécessité pour tout le monde d'appliquer l'accord (de paix) d'Alger", signé en 2006, a ajouté la même source.

De son côté, l'entourage du chef rebelle Ibrahim Ag Bahanga a déclaré à l'AFP qu'il avait eu un "long entretien téléphonique cette semaine" avec l'ambassadeur d'Algérie.

[Al-khiyal]

Quatre milliards d'euros pour renforcer la police et la gendarmerie nationales

Vendredi 23 Mai 2008 -- Le ministre de l'intérieur et des collectivités locales Yazid Zerhouni a révélé jeudi, à partir de Nouakchott où il participait la 13ème Conférence des ministres de l'Intérieur des pays de la Méditerranée occidentale (CIMO ou 5+5), que l'Algérie a consacré la somme de 4 milliards d'euros pour renforcer les moyens de ses services de sécurité.

M. Zerhouni a précisé que «cet effort exceptionnel» s'inscrivait dans le cadre d'un programme s'étalant de 2006 à 2010, visant à doubler les effectifs et les moyens de la police et la gendarmerie nationales. Le ministre a indiqué que ce programme constitue une contribution supplémentaire de l'Algérie au service de la sécurité collective de la Méditerranée occidentale. En effet, d'ici à 2010, les effectifs de la police nationale vont passer de 140 000 à 200 000 agents et ceux de la gendarmerie de 80 000 à 130 000.

Sur un autre plan, M. Zerhouni a expliqué que la Déclaration finale adoptée lors de réunies jeudi à Nouakchott, devra être complétée par la proposition algérienne sur la nécessité d'impliquer les médias dans la lutte antiterroriste.

[Al-khiyal]

Mali, Niger armies hit back against Tuareg rebels

BAMAKO, May 23, 2008 (Reuters) - Mali's army launched an offensive on Friday against Tuareg rebels who had attacked a northeastern garrison, officials said, and in neighbouring Niger the military said it killed 11 of the nomadic desert insurgents.

The governments of the West African states whose territories jut into the southern Sahara are struggling to contain separate rebellions by nomadic Tuareg fighters who have been raiding army camps and ambushing convoys in the vast expanses of the desert.

Malian defence ministry officials said government forces were hunting the heavily armed rebel raiders who killed 15 soldiers in an attack this week on the garrison at Abeibara, 150 km (90 miles) from the Saharan trading town of Kidal.

The army said 17 of its soldiers were killed in what was one of the bloodiest clashes to date in the latest insurgency by the Malian Tuaregs, who also rose in revolt in the 1990s against the central government over 1,000 km (600 miles) away in Bamako.

Since last year, the fiercely independent Tuaregs in Niger and Mali have taken up arms again, driven by resentment over unresolved grievances and against what they see as interference in their territories by government armies and foreign companies.

The Malian army said it would strike back in response to the rebel raid on Abeibara.

"We're not going to wait to be attacked again before we reply. These bandits can't be allowed to just strike wherever they want. From now on, it's an all-out offensive," a senior Malian military official, who asked not to be named, said.

Malian army sources said around 20 soldiers, including two captains, were missing, feared captured in the rebel attack.

In neighbouring uranium-exporter Niger, where a Tuareg-led revolt has killed more than 70 government soldiers over the last year, President Mamadou Tandja extended for three more months a state of alert in the uranium-producing northern Agadez region.

Niger's defence ministry said on Friday government soldiers killed 11 insurgents in an attack on their base in a mountainous part of the Agadez zone. It added troops recovered large quantities of arms, munitions and anti-tank mines.

There was no immediate response to the defence ministry statement from the Tuareg-led rebel Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), which usually gives casualty reports that conflict with those of the government. No independent confirmation of the army attack against the rebel stronghold was available.

Both the Malian and the Niger Tuareg insurgents are holding prisoners, most of them government soldiers.

Niger's MNJ last week seized the vice chairman of the country's state-run national human rights commission, El Hadj Ahamadou Ahalawey, who is also a member of parliament.

In a posting on its website, Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice, the insurgent group accused Ahalawey of being involved in purchasing arms on behalf of the government and its army.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called on Friday for the immediate and unconditional release of the Niger human rights official.

"Ambushes, armed raids, kidnappings, killings, mining of roads, hostage taking and other violent acts have been relatively common events (since last year)," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.

The governments of Mali and Niger, whose armies have received U.S. counter-insurgency training as part of a U.S.-declared war on terrorism, are reluctant to grant political legitimacy to Tuareg rebels and dismiss them as bandits and traffickers in arms and drugs.

[Al-khiyal]

Quatre milliards d'euros pour renforcer la police et la gendarmerie nationales

Algeria allocates over €4 billion to tackle terrorism

ALGERIA, May 23, 2008 (KUNA) -- Algerian Minister of State for Interior and Local Government Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, said Friday that his country has allocated more than €4 billion to fight terrorism and organized crime. Algerian state-television quoted Zerhouni as saying that Algeria has spent the amount, over the period running from 2006-2010, which was used to reinforce security forces. He added that Algeria has made many sacrifices for security in the fight against terrorism in the country and in the Mediterranean region as a whole.

[Al-khiyal]

Quinze enfants irakiens souffrant de cardiopathies soignés en Algérie

L’affaire des enfants irakiens en suspens :
Le président du conseil de l’Ordre des médecins se déplace en Jordanie

First group of Iraqi children in Algeria for heart surgery

ALGIERS, May 23, 2008 (KUNA) -- Three Iraqi children suffering from heart malformations arrived here Friday to undergo surgical operations at a private hospital in Algiers. Initiated by the Algerian Medical Association, in collaboration with the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), the step is part of humanitarian solidarity with Iraqi people, the head of the Algerian Medical Association Dr Mohamed Bekkat-Berkani said. The concerned children are Sarah Ahmed Najm-Eddine, a two-year-old girl, Ahmed Faik Namej, a six-year-old boy, and Diar Ismail, a one-year-old infant. All the three children are being accompanied by their mothers. The three children make up the first group of Iraqi children to whom Algeria announced willingness to provide medical treatment and critical surgeries.

***



Seul pays arabe à répondre aux SOS des familles :
L’Algérie soigne des enfants malades irakiens

Samedi 24 Mai 2008 -- Trois enfants irakiens, souffrant de malformations cardiaques, seront soignés en Algérie. Accueillies hier à l’aéroport Houari Boumediène par l’Ordre des médecins et l’Union générale des travailleurs algériens (Ugta), les mères des trois enfants ont exprimé leur reconnaissance à l’Algérie, seul pays arabe qui a répondu favorablement à leur cri de détresse. Venus de Baghdad, de Kirkouk ainsi que du territoire kurde, les petits Mohamed, Sarah et Diar devront subir des interventions chirurgicales dans une clinique privée près de Aïn Taya. Les frais de transport, de séjour et d’hospitalisation seront entièrement pris en charge par la centrale syndicale. La procédure de transfert des enfants irakiens en Algérie a été une opération délicate. L’Etat hébreu, qui cherche à redorer son blason, utilise tous les moyens possibles pour récupérer les enfants malades irakiens et les soigner. Au départ, 14 enfants avaient besoin d’une aide humanitaire urgente. Alors que cinq familles ont accepté l’aide d’Israël, les autres parents ont rejeté en bloc cette offre. Transférés à Amman, les familles ont essayé d’ébruiter l’affaire avec l’aide d’un médecin jordanien, Omar El Kobaici. Le Conseil algérien de l’ordre des médecins a été le premier à répondre à leur appel. « Il n’y a plus de médecins irakiens. Ceux qui n’ont pas été tués ont choisi de prendre le chemin de l’exil. Le père de Mohamed est un simple fonctionnaire, nous n’avons pas les moyens d’offrir à notre enfant une intervention à l’étranger. On nous a dit que notre enfant devait être soigné en Hollande ou en Israël. Puis son état de santé s’est détérioré. Là, on nous a pas laissé le choix, l’enfant devait être transféré en urgence en Israël. Je ne pouvais me faire à cette idée. Lorsque le docteur Kobaici nous a dit que l’Algérie nous offrait son aide, il m’a fallu moins d’une seconde pour accepter l’offre. J’ai même changé la carte SIM de mon portable pour ne pas être contactée par les Israéliens », raconte Mme Diar Raouf, originaire de Kirkouk, mère de Mohamed, 6 ans et demi. Son fils, nous dit-elle, souhaite que l’opération se déroule très vite afin de retrouver son père en Irak. Le président de l’Ordre des médecins, Dr Bekkat Berkani Mohamed, se dit prêt à accueillir d’autres enfants malades. « Pour l’heure, il est difficile d’accueillir d’autres enfants, car nous avons un concurrent de taille qu’est Israël. C’est une réelle gymnastique qu’il faut entreprendre. Mais il ne faut pas oublier qu’il y a des compétences en Algérie prêtes à relever ce défi », estime Dr Ayadi Abderrahmane, membre de l’Ordre des médecins. Le représentant de l’Ugta, Rachid Aït Ali, présent hier à l’aéroport d’Alger, a estimé que cette initiative démontre l’intérêt de l’Algérie pour la question irakienne. « Ce n’est pas avec les discours et les meetings qu’il faut soutenir l’Irak, c’est avec des actes », assène-t-il. Selon un rapport publié par Oxfam et le Comité de coordination des ONG en Irak, huit millions d’Irakiens — soit près d’un tiers de la population — nécessitent une aide humanitaire d’urgence.

[Al-khiyal]

Key Al Qaeda figure apparently died in U.S. strike in Pakistan

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2008 -- An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday.

The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.

U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners in Pakistani hide-outs, and Jazairi would be another in a series of recent losses for the Al Qaeda leadership, the two officials said.

"He was a significant person within the Al Qaeda ranks," said the senior European official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. "Not in the top five, but he's up there. The suspicion is he was one of those individuals involved in training and targeting Western interests. There is uncorroborated intelligence that he was involved in plots against Europe."

Officials declined to discuss last week's operation because of political tension in Pakistan over U.S. airstrikes. The strength of Al Qaeda and the Taliban movement in the lawless tribal areas makes it difficult to independently confirm information there.

In fact, some doubt lingers about the identity of the man killed. This week, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said he believed the slain man was not the Algerian but another foreign militant. Despite the confusion, the U.S. and European officials said their information about the militant's identity seemed solid.

"There are good reasons to think that Al Jazairi is dead," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The European official said there recently had been allusions to Jazairi's death on radical websites.

Jazairi was an explosives expert and "important terrorist trainer," the U.S. official said.

"When it comes to training, this individual was an important figure," the official said. "People like him are vital to terrorist plots. That doesn't mean he can't be replaced. But when Al Qaeda loses someone with his experience, it matters."

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, have eluded pursuers. An airstrike on Damadola in 2006 is thought to have narrowly missed Zawahiri.

But a systematic assault on operational bosses seems to be paying off, officials said. A Libyan chief died in January during one of a flurry of airstrikes in Pakistan this year.

Abu Ubaida al Masri, the network's external operations chief, died of an infectious disease about the same time. His Iraqi predecessor was captured in late 2006.

Jazairi surfaced in Pakistan about six years ago and was a mid-level figure who gained stature as other plotters and trainers fell, officials said.

The European official said, "He was someone you could imagine as a potential successor to Masri."

Although many Al Qaeda fighters are Algerian, few Algerians have been detected in the core leadership in Pakistan or Afghanistan. They have been active mostly in North Africa, Europe and Iraq. And the Al Qaeda leadership has been wary because of fears that Algerian extremist movements are infiltrated by Algerian spies.

The increasing success and pace of airstrikes this year indicates that American spy agencies and their allies have made progress in infiltrating Al Qaeda in Pakistan, said Louis Caprioli, a former anti-terrorism chief of France's DST intelligence agency.

"You have to have good intelligence on the ground to hit a target like that," Caprioli said. "It requires human as well as technical intelligence. I think the money that the Americans are spreading around is having an effect.

"Also, there are troops in Afghanistan, prisoners being interrogated. This is a long-term effort that is paying off."

[Al-khiyal]

British police release details of attack suspect

Police in hunt for ‘dangerous’ Algerian burglar

Police appealing to find man over burglary

May 23, 2008 -- Bromley police are looking for a man they want to question in connection with a burglary.

Police want to question Mustapha Selmani, a male of Algerian origin, about an attempted aggravated burglary on August 4 last year at 1.20am in Rangefield Road, Bromley.

Police say a male broke into a flat, turned off the electrics and waited for the occupiers to return home.

When they returned he attacked the 36-year-old male occupier of the premises.

The victim managed to fight off his attacker and escaped.

Police found a hammer and a sword at the scene, although these had not been used in the attack.

Mr Selmani is known to use a number of aliases, including Reda Saidji, Mustapha Dahel, Michel Martines, Nadir Ait Tayeb and Alessandro Castellani.

He is known to visit the Bromley, Penge, Leytonstone and Notting Hill areas of London and it is believed he may try to leave the country.

Police are concerned as to his mental well-being, and believe he could pose a danger to himself and to others.

DC Andy Collin from Bromley police's burglary squad said: "We would like to find Mustapha Selmani as soon as possible and we would like him, or anyone who sees him in the street, or knows where he is, to contact us.

"People should not approach him if they see him in the street but call the police if they have any information that can help us track him down."

Anyone with any information should contact DC Andy Collin at Bromley police on 020 8284 9964 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.