Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ALGIERS185
2007-02-11 08:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

MIXED SIGNALS ON RIGHTS OF FAMILIES OF THE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM UNGA AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAS #0185 0420856
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 110856Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3021
INFO RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 6473
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 1623
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2068
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1506
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0861
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 2870
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0424
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0394
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000185 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM UNGA AG
SUBJECT: MIXED SIGNALS ON RIGHTS OF FAMILIES OF THE
DISAPPEARED

REF: ALGIERS 171

Classified By: DCM Thomas F. Daughton; reason 1.4 d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000185

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM UNGA AG
SUBJECT: MIXED SIGNALS ON RIGHTS OF FAMILIES OF THE
DISAPPEARED

REF: ALGIERS 171

Classified By: DCM Thomas F. Daughton; reason 1.4 d.


1. (U) In Paris on February 6, Algerian FM Bedjaoui signed
the International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which was adopted in
December by the UN General Assembly. According to Algerian
press reports, one of the aims of the convention is to
provide a judicial remedy for the families of disappeared
persons to seek financial compensation. In his public
remarks, Bedjaoui stated that such a right to compensation
was included in the National Charter for Peace and National
Reconciliation, endorsed by Algerian voters in late 2005.
(Note: The Algerian government estimates there are more than
6,000 Algerians who disappeared during the terrorist strife
of the 1990s. End Note.)


2. (U) Algerian NGOs championing the rights of the
disappeared have criticized the Charter for freeing members
of the security services from any accountability for
disappearances. Advocates for the disappeared maintain that
closure for the families of the victims will not be possible
absent a full accounting for their loved ones (reftel). On
February 7, five of the NGOs organized a conference to
examine the issue at a hotel in Algiers. About 50 people
turned up to participate. Local papers reported February 7
that not among the participants was a Chilean human rights
lawyer, whose request for a visa to travel to Algeria was
refused.

TURNING OUT THE LIGHTS
--------------


3. (U) Shortly after the event began at 0900 local time,
electricity to the meeting room failed and the room went
dark. Organizers of the event, according to an Embassy
employee who attended, called for calm and distributed
candles to the audience. Offering no explanation for the
power failure, the hotel management asked the audience to
leave. When the audience refused, Algerian police appeared
on the scene and dispersed the crowd, by and large
peacefully. The event's organizers hurriedly scheduled a
press conference away from the hotel and denounced the
government for cutting the power to the meeting room and
preventing concerned Algerian citizens from openly debating
an issue of importance to the society. They also complained
that the government refused dialogue with them and stated
that only the "security services and terrorists," at the
expense of the victims, benefited from the Charter.


4. (C) COMMENT: It seems clear that the power to the hotel
conference room was deliberately cut on the order of the
local authorities. Given the nature of the GOA
decision-making process, the decision to do so was probably
taken at a fairly senior level. To say the least, the
government is sending mixed signals. One day it touts the
right of the disappeared by signing an international
convention; the next, it breaks up a gathering of advocates
for the disappeared who take issue with provisions of the
Charter. The government's sensitivity about challenges to
President Bouteflika's national reconciliation process
remains high.
FORD