Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ALGIERS197
2008-02-22 09:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:
ANGRY YOUTHS STIR UP SLEEPY SAHARA TOWN
how-toVZCZCXRO4531 PP RUEHTRO DE RUEHAS #0197 0530924 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 220924Z FEB 08 FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5294 INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2559 RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 8812 RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2177 RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7029 RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6232 RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 1477 RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0426 RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3264 RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000197
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KOCI AG
SUBJECT: ANGRY YOUTHS STIR UP SLEEPY SAHARA TOWN
REF: ALGIERS 110
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000197
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KOCI AG
SUBJECT: ANGRY YOUTHS STIR UP SLEEPY SAHARA TOWN
REF: ALGIERS 110
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
1. (U) Violent protests on February 16 by approximately 100
youths in Timimoun, a sleepy tourist town in the desert of
southwest Algeria, raised eyebrows in Algiers, since the
majority of socioeconmic protests in Algeria have been
confined to the more populous northern strip of the country
(reftel). The Timimoun protesters, mostly high school- and
university-age males, went on a three-hour rampage February
16, setting fire to state government buildings and shouting
they were "fed up" with the lack of opportunity and jobs.
2. (C) Columnist Hakim Lalaam of French-language daily Le
Soir d'Algerie told us on February 18 that he could not
believe "that riots occurred in Timimoun." He noted that the
events of February 16 flew in the face of the reputation
southern Algerians enjoy as the "most patient and wise"
people in the country. Henda Kaidi, a French teacher in
Timimoun, told us that the Timimoun of February 16 "had
nothing to do with the Timimoun you see in postcards."
According to Kaidi, the protesters were not delinquents but
came from "la cite des 200 logements," a government housing
compound for civil servants. She said that the young
protesters were tired of seeing foreign companies "working on
their soil" without providing jobs for "the sons of the
region" or stimulating the local economy. The few foreign
companies present in southwestern Algeria do much of their
hiring in the north, particularly for skilled laborers,
according to Kaidi. Kaidi claimed that Timimoun has its own
local engineers, who are somehow not as attractive to
businesses in the region as their northern counterparts.
3. (C) COMMENT: Frustration over economic stagnation and the
lack of jobs does not usually boil over in Saharan oases like
Timimoun. Our tracking of socioeconomic protests since
November 2007 shows nothing of the nature of the February 16
events occurring in southern Algeria. Although recent press
reports announced that gold mines may soon be operable in the
area, southwestern Algeria has not traditionally received as
much attention as central and southeastern Algeria. Most
foreign companies in the arid southern two-thirds of Algeria
work in the hydrocarbon sector or extract other natural
resources and are largely concentrated in the southeast. The
southwest is left with little to offer aside from
underdeveloped though attractive tourist destinations like
Timimoun.
FORD
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KOCI AG
SUBJECT: ANGRY YOUTHS STIR UP SLEEPY SAHARA TOWN
REF: ALGIERS 110
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
1. (U) Violent protests on February 16 by approximately 100
youths in Timimoun, a sleepy tourist town in the desert of
southwest Algeria, raised eyebrows in Algiers, since the
majority of socioeconmic protests in Algeria have been
confined to the more populous northern strip of the country
(reftel). The Timimoun protesters, mostly high school- and
university-age males, went on a three-hour rampage February
16, setting fire to state government buildings and shouting
they were "fed up" with the lack of opportunity and jobs.
2. (C) Columnist Hakim Lalaam of French-language daily Le
Soir d'Algerie told us on February 18 that he could not
believe "that riots occurred in Timimoun." He noted that the
events of February 16 flew in the face of the reputation
southern Algerians enjoy as the "most patient and wise"
people in the country. Henda Kaidi, a French teacher in
Timimoun, told us that the Timimoun of February 16 "had
nothing to do with the Timimoun you see in postcards."
According to Kaidi, the protesters were not delinquents but
came from "la cite des 200 logements," a government housing
compound for civil servants. She said that the young
protesters were tired of seeing foreign companies "working on
their soil" without providing jobs for "the sons of the
region" or stimulating the local economy. The few foreign
companies present in southwestern Algeria do much of their
hiring in the north, particularly for skilled laborers,
according to Kaidi. Kaidi claimed that Timimoun has its own
local engineers, who are somehow not as attractive to
businesses in the region as their northern counterparts.
3. (C) COMMENT: Frustration over economic stagnation and the
lack of jobs does not usually boil over in Saharan oases like
Timimoun. Our tracking of socioeconomic protests since
November 2007 shows nothing of the nature of the February 16
events occurring in southern Algeria. Although recent press
reports announced that gold mines may soon be operable in the
area, southwestern Algeria has not traditionally received as
much attention as central and southeastern Algeria. Most
foreign companies in the arid southern two-thirds of Algeria
work in the hydrocarbon sector or extract other natural
resources and are largely concentrated in the southeast. The
southwest is left with little to offer aside from
underdeveloped though attractive tourist destinations like
Timimoun.
FORD