UPDATED ALGERIA DEMOCRATIC REFORM STRATEGY:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001560

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2017
TAGS: KDEM KMPI KPAO PGOV PREL AG
SUBJECT: UPDATED ALGERIA DEMOCRATIC REFORM STRATEGY:
PUSHING FOR OPENINGS

REF: A. STATE 130991

B. 05 ALGIERS 992

C. ALGIERS 966

D. ALGIERS 1559

E. ALGIERS 1558

F. ALGIERS 1091

G. ALGIERS 1264 AND ALGIERS 1329

Classified By: Ambassador Robert S. Ford. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Securing a wider democratic opening in
Algeria is a challenge. Many Algerian young people call the
political leadership the "Jurassics" because so many leaders
from the President down are entrenched politicos from the
same generation that took over after independence in 1962.
We see precious few signs that this leadership is rushing to
liberalize the system much in the next several years; indeed,
there are signs of regression. Political parties, both in
the governing coalition and in the opposition, have trouble
generating activists or voter interest. There are civil
society organizations -- some of which are doing good work --
but nearly all suffer from small memberships, fund-raising
difficulties and an inability to expand support for issues
beyond a narrow band of true believers. These problems are
not new in Algeria, and their persistence has helped sustain
Islamist radicals recruitment that itself poses a direct
threat to U.S. national security.


2. (C) Despite the challenging environment, we have openings.
There are Algerians, both in government and outside, who
want democratization. For maximum effect, we are integrating
Public Diplomacy tools and approaches into other Embassy
activities. When combined with other program tools such as
MEPI, we believe this will provide the best transformational
arsenal possible. Our primary themes for the democratic
reform agenda are expanding media freedom, energizing the
parliament to play a genuine oversight role, improving
delivery of justice and helping the GoA use education and
market reform to reduce the lure of radicals in Algeria
society. Embassy Algiers' strategy consists of five focus
areas to promote democratic reform in Algeria. END SUMMARY.

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FOCUS AREA 1: POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
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3. (C) Our desired outcome is a parliament and judiciary that
are more transparent and able to play genuine oversight roles
in the national life. Using MEPI funds, we will use the
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and PD
programs to build a capacity among parliamentarians to (a)
analyze budgets (b) use the Algeria media to explain issues
to the public and (c) draft legislation. The President of
the Chamber of Deputies acknowledged that the parliament
needs to be able to do these things (see ref C). Our
contacts within various political parties have expressed
support for NCSL's work. We have also heard that many within
parliament view NCSL as a preferable alternative the National
Democratic Institute whose program with six political parties
the GoA shut down in the summer of 2006. (We have raised
bringing NDI back but no official who is connected to
Algeria's top leadership has responded serious to our
inquiries. We will keep trying to restore an NDI presence
since Algeria badly needs political parties able to generate
and channel interest in the political process. Algeria's
political parties in turn are struggling with the Interior
Ministry - see ref D, for example.)


4. (C) Most of our contacts perceives the judicial system is
rife with corruption and favoritism; its low credibility adds
to the power of the extremist message here. The Justice
Minister has asked us for as much help in training as we can
provide. We have had a small program through MEPI and the
CLDP that has trained judges in faster resolution of
commercial disputes. That program has opened doors at the
Justice Ministry so that we can broaden our focus to the
larger question of judicial ethics and standards. The
American Bar Association's work with the MOJ will start in
FY2008, and the MEPI CLDP work will continue for at least
part of the year. Negotiating a Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty with the Algerians would enable us to develop improved
access to the MOJ's investigatory machinery. We also aim to

ALGIERS 00001560 002 OF 003


channel FBI and DS training opportunities to the Justice
Ministry and, if the Minister of Interior (no democracy ally)
approves, to the Algerian police to help the Algerians
develop more modern and fair law enforcement techniques.

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FOCUS AREA 2: MEDIA
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5. (C) Our desired outcome is more media freedom and better
quality media. We have pressed in private with the Algerians
that they should start opening the electronic media sooner,
not later. Moreover, we continue to see defamation cases
raised against journalists who write about corruption (see
ref E, for example). The independent press often practices
self-censorship due to the possible penalties from such
defamation cases. We will use PD resources to highlight the
abuse of defamation laws and partner with journalists and
civil society to bring about positive change. We also hope
to secure DRL Bureau funding for a proposed program with
Freedom House whose primary focus should be developing an
Algerian campaign that presses for decriminalization of
defamation. Separately, in FY 2008 we will continue to
support the MEPI-funded Journalism Development Group (JDG)
work with Algerian newspapers, targeting their business
skills as a mechanism through which transparency and
accountability can be increased. After the business and
management help this project delivered to Echourouq el-Youmi
and el-Fadjr newspapers in FY 2007 other newspapers would
like to receive similar JDG help.

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FOCUS AREA 3: CIVIL SOCIETY
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6. (C) Our desired outcome is a civil society that is better
able to organize and lobby for reform. On paper, there are
several thousand civil societies organizations in Algeria,
but few have national reach and many seem to exist in name
only. Some Algerians suggest that the weakness of civil
society in the country is influenced by the ongoing state of
emergency left over from the 1990s civil war, which restricts
freedom of assembly. Through ambassadorial and political
section engagement, we will work with partners to increase
pressure on the government to relax restrictions on freedom
of assembly, while using MEPI and PD resources to empower
NGOs with fund-raising and greater organizational and
technical expertise. We will also work with local NGOs on
issues related to trafficking in persons -- an issue the
Algerian government has yet to formally acknowledge and
address -- as well as on women's rights. Separately, we will
encourage Algerian political parties and NGOs to start
advocating now for international observers for the 2009
presidential elections. It is important to remember that
while Algeria has many earnest activists, it will take many
years to establish a strong and vibrant civil society here.

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FOCUS AREA 4: EDUCATION
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7. (SBU) Our PD and education programs also will help promote
democratic values. In FY 2008 we also will expand our
classroom visits by Embassy officers outside the capital in
the coming year with the creation of American Corners in Oran
(Algeria's second city) and Constantine (the center of
conservative Islamic thinking). The ACCESS program that
targets extra English language instruction to underprivileged
high school students has democratization elements in it too.
For example, an ACCESS teacher in Constantine told Ambassador
in November 2006 that her students were amazed when they
studied the U.S. constitution in their ACCESS class that the
U.S. has such wide freedom of religion. A program we are
proposing, which met with an initially favorable response
from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education
officials during the recent visit of S/P Jared Cohen, is the
"Teach for Algeria" initiative. This program will not only
improve English teaching in Algeria but would also involve
Algerian students in volunteer community projects to help
instill a sense of civic duty.


8. (SBU) We are especially mindful in Algeria in 2007 of the

ALGIERS 00001560 003 OF 003


need to help the GoA reduce the lure of extremism. As we
have reported, the suicide bombers seen here in 2007 have all
been from lower economic classes with little hope of
advancement (see ref F-G). Improving English language
teaching is important since job applicants with good English
enjoy an advantage in the Algerian job market. With strong
encouragement from the GoA we will maintain English-language
teaching programs, such as the ACCESS program . The
MEPI-funded Partnership for Public Schools (PSP) program has
major components dedicated to improving the English-language
teaching methodology used in Algerian schools. ECA
programming, such as Fulbright, is also helping us improve
the ability of Algerian administrators to address the vital
need for reform in education.

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FOCUS AREA 5: ECONOMIC REFORM
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9. (C) Countering radicalism and promoting democracy is only
one side of an Algerian coin whose other side has to be a
successful economy that generates sustainable employment.
The MEPI-funded Financial Services Volunteer Corps workshops
and a separate Treasury Department project will help the GoA
reform its atrophied banking sector. Perhaps the biggest
impediment to a healthier business climate and the economic
opportunism it would bring is the lack of transparency in the
Algerian economy, whether in the granting of credit, access
to land, or the awarding of tenders. Programs to address
this key structural shortcoming would help non-hydrocarbon
investment and encourage more Algerians to become
stakeholders in the country's future.

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COMMENT
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10. (C) As we have reported, there is little movement on
political reform now outside openings such as those we
outlined above. Indeed, some of the initial signs from the
local election preparations suggest backward movement. Our
transformational opportunities are likely to increase only
when we have the blessing of the GoA and remain prepared to
deploy greater resources whenever we see an opening for
political and economic reform. One such opening might come
in the 2009 presidential election here if there is enough
disagreement among the Algerian security and political
leadership that a genuine contest proves possible. Embassy
Algiers is already discussing quietly with political
activists about the utility of international observers for
the 2009 presidential elections, and if we ultimately get an
opening, as we did in 1995 and 2004 we should have resources
ready to capitalize.
FORD