THE HARRAGA - NOT JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001704 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI AG SUBJECT: THE HARRAGA - NOT JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE ¶1. SUMMARY: Over the past year, the problem of "harraga" -- desperate young Algerians setting out for Spain and Italy on makeshift boats -- has grown notably worse. The phenomenon is no longer limited to underprivileged youth, but now includes older and wealthier individuals otherwise able to support themselves and their families. The trend indicates a loss of faith in the political and economic system, which both has troubling implications for voter participation in the upcoming November 29 local elections and suggests a potential for the growing disenchantment to spill into protests and other more violent forms of behavior. The government has acknowledged the urgent need for a plan to engage Algerian youth, and President Bouteflika has tasked all ministers and governors to come up with an agenda. So far, the talk has not been matched by concrete action, and the tide of harraga continues. END SUMMARY. WHY "HARRAGA"? -------------- ¶2. Starting in 2004 harraga became a part of the Algerian cultural landscape, featured in popular song and increasingly frequent press reports, especially as many of the youth who set off to reach Europe in their makeshift boats perish at sea. The term "harraga" -- "one who burns" in Algerian Arabic dialect -- refers to the common practice of the would-be emigrants to burn their identification papers before embarking to impede the police identifying and repatriating them. A more recent interpretation for the "harraga" name holds that the desperation has become so great that people are willing to "burn" their lives in order to escape from Algeria. One popular harraga motto is "better to be eaten by the fishes than by the worms at home." A "SUICIDE MENTALITY" DEVELOPS -------------- ¶3. Accurate harraga statistics are hard to find, but anecdotal evidence and press reports reveal a growing problem. In October, Mohammed Khoudri, minister in charge of relations with parliament, released some official figures on the harraga problem. He claimed that between January and August 2007, 1100 harraga had been arrested, 371 by the security forces and 918 by the coast guard. Sociologist Nacer Djabi views the harraga problem as a symptom of a larger disease -- the emergence of a "suicide attitude" in the Maghreb, but especially in Algeria. "A harraga or a kamikaze (suicide bomber)," said Djabi, "both have the same objective: to get rid of the reality that surrounds them." A NEW BREED OF HARRAGA -------------- ¶4. In June 2007 the ocean liner Tarik Ibn Zyad bound for Marseilles became a rescue ship when the captain came across 22 Algerians stranded at sea. The group was significant because press reports showed Algerians that the harraga no longer fit the stereotype of 18- to 20-year-old unemployed males. Among the June batch of harraga was Djamel, a 38-year-old civil servant, and a 32-year-old woman. When asked by one of our police contacts why he left the country, Djamel responded with the question, "Do you have anything else to offer me?" The story of Fodil Zerga offers another new vignette. Zerga, a relative of an Embassy employee, is the son of a successful trader in Oran. Zerga sold his BMW to buy a small motorboat in order to reach Spain with two friends. He had applied twice for a visa to enter Spain or France but was denied both times. Before leaving, Zerga blurted out to his family that "you can do nothing in this country, even with your own money!" Zerga and his friends are now reportedly in the custody of Spanish authorities after being picked up at sea. SCRAMBLING FOR A RESPONSE -------------- ¶5. The government has clearly realized the urgency of the problem, though it is far less clear that the authorities have any ready solution. On October 24, President Bouteflika gave a speech to all cabinet ministers and walis (governors) in which he warned of the potential consequences of not addressing the harraga problem. "In these last two years," he said, "2400 harraga have been intercepted at sea. These ALGIERS 00001704 002 OF 002 2400, if added to the kamikazes of Algiers, Lakhdaria, Batna and Dellys, could become more numerous if we do not seriously address the issue." (The remarks prompted well-known cartoonist Ali Dilem to draw "Algerian youth" as a choice between a kamikaze wearing a suicide belt and a harraga wearing a life preserver.) Bouteflika said that although 150 billion dinars (2.3 billion dollars) had been dedicated to the youth and sports sector between 2000 and 2006, each wali needed to develop a new "youth strategy" for his/her province of the country. ¶6. In March, the ministry of religious affairs released a decree asserting that Islam could not accept among its members those who took their fate into their own hands. Cheikh Abu Abdessalem, president of the national commission on fatwas within the ministry, expounded on radio and television that a suicide operation committed by a kamikaze was similar to a harraga expedition since, in the end, both lives were thrown away. COMMENT: RICH COUNTRY, POOR PEOPLE -------------- ¶7. The harraga problem, like the larger problem of providing opportunity and hope to the youth of Algeria, is only getting worse. Over 70 percent of Algerians are under the age of 30. Former Prime Minister Ahmed Benbitour, in a speech on November 15, outlined the tragic paradox when he asked, "Why is it that a country as rich as Algeria has nothing to offer its children?" Benbitour went on to say that he believed the only way out of the problem was for the regime to change. In the meantime, as oil prices skyrocket and the political and economic spheres remain largely stagnant, it appears the harraga phenomenon is only likely to worsen. FORD