Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ALGIERS259
2007-03-01 09:53:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

COPS AND ROBBERS: ALGERIA COPES WITH MOUNTING CRIME

Tags:  PGOV PTER ASEC ECON SOCI CASC AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0036
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAS #0259/01 0600953
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 010953Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3115
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 1652
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 6502
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1529
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2093
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 2891
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0134
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 5901
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 1189
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 8521
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0400
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0868
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
UNCLAS ALGIERS 000259 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PTER ASEC ECON SOCI CASC AG
SUBJECT: COPS AND ROBBERS: ALGERIA COPES WITH MOUNTING CRIME

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000259

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PTER ASEC ECON SOCI CASC AG
SUBJECT: COPS AND ROBBERS: ALGERIA COPES WITH MOUNTING CRIME


1. SUMMARY: The recent robbery of Algiers' consular chief at
knifepoint typifies the rising crime rate in Algeria. Aggressive,
violent and often armed theft has spiked even as insurgent violence
has generally diminished over the last four years. Public
perception, media coverage and police admission all underscore the
trend. Official statistics depict modest crime rates by European
and American city standards, and the rise is less pronounced for
more severe crimes like murder and kidnapping. Moreover, the degree
of overlap between kidnappings, organized crime and terrorism
remains difficult to assess. Though increased crime does not appear
to be a key voting issue as Algerians evaluate their politicians, it
has undermined confidence in the judicial system and the police.
END SUMMARY

PUBLIC PULSE, VITAL STATISTICS
--------------


2. Recently, conoff has questioned consular applicants and
conducted focus groups with residents of two poor Algiers
neighborhoods. Interviews focused on crime categories tracked in
the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report: violent, property, and drug
offenses. Respondents believe crime is rising moderately and worry
especially that thieves target cell phones and cars. Three people
reported assailants had recently punched through their car windows
to steal mobile phones while they were slowed in traffic. City
streets are busy by night compared with five years ago, but
interviewees are cautious; most women interviewed said they avoid
public areas at night. Print media dedicate prominent column inches
to the crime story in coverage that tends toward the sensational but
refrains from pointing fingers at the government. The press treats
crime as a continuing drama, each article a new installation in the
narrative.


3. Interior ministry statistics bear out the public's disquiet.
(Note: These numbers are as reported in Algerian newspapers and by
police contacts. The GoA did not respond to our requests for
comprehensive crime statistics. End note.) Thefts were up a hefty
61% in 2005, the most recent year for which most numbers were

available. The count of non-terrorism-related murders climbed from
174 in 2004 to 205 in 2005. Kidnappings were also up, from 82 in
2004 to 101 in 2005. The number of serious crimes is by no means
alarming in a country of over 32 million people, yet crime has
become more visible to the population as the fear of terrorism has
receded. Another indicator of the growing problem is visible in the
prisons: the justice ministry's 127 penitentiaries struggle to house
some 51,000 prisoners. There is little room to incarcerate the
estimated 62,000 people arrested in 2006, according to ministry
contacts, and many will receive short sentences, swift amnesty, or
even walk free as a result.

WHO ARE THE PERPETRATORS?
--------------


4. Algerians agree on who they think the criminals are: young males
from their teens to mid-30s. When asked why these youth commit
crimes, interviewees offer a catalogue of Algeria's social ills.
Unemployment is endemic -- estimates from informed sources suggest
it exceeds 35%. The population has quadrupled since independence,
and the average age falls squarely into the crime-committing age
cohort. Drug use is also up. Many Algerians believe the government
has failed generally to provide positive social outlets for young
people. Two respondents offered that Algeria's decade-long
experience with terrorism deeply marked the fabric of society,
unraveling trust and community. While optimism about the security
situation is apparent and people speak of "the time of terrorism" in
the past tense, sentiment is not upbeat across the board. One cafe
owner spoke of a "deficit of hope," observing that people doubt that
current economic good times will trickle down and are skeptical that
proposed political reforms are serious. Meanwhile, the cost of
living is rising and nearly everyone we interviewed under 30 has
given hard thought to emigration. (On learning of conoff's visit,
one group of twenty-something men paused during a televised soccer
match to wave their passports and chant "visa, visa.")

THE CRIME/TERROR NEXUS
--------------


5. Kidnappings in the Kabylia -- the mountainous, predominantly
Berber area south and east of Algiers -- made headlines in 2006.
They were often initiated at false roadblocks and sometimes ended in
ransom, rape or murder. Much speculation whirls around whether
these were the acts of terrorists still holed up in the highlands.
Police contacts posit that 1990s-era terrorist cells in the maquis
eventually devolved into organized brigands. Robberies, roadblocks
and kidnappings that were initially related to acquiring resources
and sowing terror, they say, gradually crime became a raison d'etre
for many. Looking south to the centuries-old Saharan smuggling
trade in drugs, arms, immigrants and, more recently, cigarettes, it
is widely believed that Al-Qa'ida in the Lands of the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM -- the former GSPC) controls a piece of the action.
Salafist "emir" Mokhtar Belmokhtar allegedly led a smuggling ring
before he and his entire group joined AQIM. Press accounts report
that AQIM cadres have intermarried with tribes and smugglers in the
south to build up shelter and a constituency.


6. The Algerian government is giving new attention to organized
crime apart from terrorism. Ali Tounsi, head of the national
police, announced in February 2007 that officers would be authorized
to infiltrate organized crime groups in undercover operations. A
recent narcotics bust revealed links to Colombian cartels and
prompted an interior ministry request of assistance from U.S. drug
enforcement officials. Additionally, bad press on trafficked
clandestine immigrants who are dying en route to Europe has brought
daylight to an issue the government has tended to ignore.

POLITICAL FALLOUT?
--------------


7. Crime is not yet an issue of importance to voters, based on our
interviews, despite upcoming parliamentary and local elections.
Interviews suggest that security, the economy and quality of life
are priority issues for voters. Crime has a bit role: it is one
more reason for those unhappy with the current government to lament,
but it does not significantly detract in the view of those who
credit President Bouteflika with restoring security. Nonetheless,
the government feels compelled to take symbolic, well-publicized
action. President Bouteflika singled out the "fight against
banditry" for priority action in a September 2006 speech opening the
judicial year. Algeria toughened prison sentencing guidelines in
late 2006. As a result, cell phone theft is now punishable with a
mandatory multi-year minimum sentence. Fall 2006 also saw several
large-scale, day-long crime sweeps that culminated in arrests and
press conferences. The national police and national gendarmerie
have both launched massive recruiting drives. The police force
plans to expand to 200,000 people by 2009, while the gendarmerie
expects nearly to double its ranks over the next several years.


8. Despite these actions, it is apparent that another victim of
increasing crime is the reputation of the judicial system and police
as institutions. The courts are viewed (accurately) as slow and
overburdened. Several interviewees argued that presidential
amnesties for criminals, which regularly accompany national
holidays, are too frequent. (Note: These are unrelated to the
terrorism-related national reconciliation amnesties of 1999 and

2005. End note.) Why turn in a car thief, they ask, when he'll be
out of jail and out for revenge in six months? Police contacts
stress that they cannot turn from fighting terrorism to fighting
crime on a dime, especially because they remain very active on the
counterterrorism front. Popular opinion has largely discounted this
nuance: police efforts at preventing crime and catching perpetrators
struck interviewees as wholly inadequate. As one popular joke puts
it, all's fair in the hunt for parking in Algiers, but don't take
that spot in front of the local police station -- your car radio
will never survive the night.

FORD