US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS2272

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 002272 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, AG, Algeria-Europe Relations 
SUBJECT: ALGERIANS RIOT IN FRANCE:  A REMINDER OF 
DISCONTENT AT HOME 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
-------------------- 
 
1. (C) The ongoing rioting in France, which Algerians have 
followed on French television, Algerian television, and in 
their press, has produced a mixture of smugness and concern 
in Algeria.  On the one hand, the leadership is not 
displeased to show the Algerian youth, who have left in 
droves following the completion of their studies in Algeria, 
that the grass is not necessarily greener in France or 
elsewhere and that unemployment, compounded by 
discrimination, can also await them abroad.  On the other 
hand, there is also publicly and privately voiced concern 
that the rioting could combine with simmering social and 
economic grievances here to bring Algerians, and particularly 
the unemployed youth, into the streets.  The permanent fear 
of governing elites here -- and a chief motivation for the 
more enlightened among them in pressing for reforms and 
greater attention to these grievances -- has been to avoid a 
repeat of the mid-1980's, when the collapse of oil prices and 
plummeting living standards precipitated rioting throughout 
the country and the collapse of the one-party system.  While 
it is a band-aid at best, it is not by chance this week that 
the government, in defending the 2006 Finance Law before the 
Assembly, stressed new revenues for social housing and the 
creation of over 22,000 new public sector jobs. 
 
2. (C) With high oil prices likely to continue for the 
foreseeable future, the employment picture improving, state 
coffers full and able to provide a cushion, and economic 
growth a respectable 5-6 per cent in recent years, the 
situation is very different now.  Nonetheless, 2005 has seen 
sporadic rioting in provincial capitals and towns like 
Tamanrasset, Ghardaia, Setif, Bechar, and most recently, in 
Arzew.  Most of this rioting has sprung from specific local 
grievances  -- particularly acute unemployment, electricity 
and water cuts, distribution of social housing, and state 
actions against the informal economy.  But against a 
background of increasing wealth disparities in the country, 
unemployment hovering around 20 per cent or more, economic 
progress to date not yet impacting on the average citizen's 
daily life, and a severe housing shortage that forces even 
some middle class people to live with up to six adults in one 
room in Algiers, there is no room for complacency.  As former 
President Ben Bella publicly warned this week, a state should 
meet the minimum needs of its citizenry and it is an abnormal 
situation to have people living on the street and 
malnourished when the country lives in a favorable state with 
its coffers full.  (End Summary and Comment) 
 
SPORADIC PROTESTS IN 2005 IN ALGERIA... 
--------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U) As Algerians watch the ugliness of riots in France 
unfold on their television screens and across the pages of 
their newspapers, they are reminded that the hopes and dreams 
of Algerians abroad, such as those taking apart in the French 
riots, have been dashed by fears of terrorism from North 
Africa (the London bombings) and lack of opportunity and 
discrimination, at least as Algerians see it, elsewhere in 
Europe.  Algerians in the mother country are also reminded of 
discontent at home.  In this regard, street protests -- with 
unemployed youth burning tires, throwing stones, and setting 
some buildings on fire -- were a common occurrence in 
provincial towns and capitals across Algeria in 2005.  A 
falling standard of living, drastic housing shortage, water 
distribution problems and rising unemployment caused many to 
take to the street and express their discontent. 
 
...EVEN IN ARZEW WHERE THE ECONOMY IS RELATIVELY STRONG 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
4.  (U) Arguably the most prominent riots in Algeria this 
year took place in Arzew, where last month during the Muslim 
holy month of Ramadan a local mayor, without adequately 
preparing the public or assuring alternatives, insensitively 
ordered the bulldozing of vendors' stands as part of efforts 
against the informal economy.  What was described by 
authorities as a "routine operation against trade activities" 
October 24 turned into a national drama, complete with riots 
and confrontations between law enforcement and rioters that 
lead to two deaths and millions of dollars in damage. 
Although riots occurred in recent months in important cities 
like Tamanrasset, Tiaret, Ghardaia, Setif and Bechar, the 
riots in Arzew were especially striking because Arzew has a 
strong industrial and commercial base and higher living 
standards than most other Algerian cities. 
 
5.  (U) In an effort to mitigate intractable unemployment, a 
large number of youths resorted to taking up informal 
commerce, an activity which had been tolerated for a number 
of years.  One former mayor of Arzew remarked that, "between 
a Kalashnikov and illegal trade, the choice is obvious!" 
Since 2003, however, a priority of the GOA has been to purify 
the Algerian economy from the parasite of informal (and 
untaxed) commerce, but without necessarily providing an 
alternative enterprise for illegal merchants.  One Arzew 
rioter was quoted in the press as saying, "I survive on those 
tiny square meters.  Does the state want to see me begging?" 
Although after the riots local authorities promised the 
illegal vendors 100 new stands in the near future, the 
bitterness remains.  As one angry displaced trader told a 
journalist:  "You see, we are in a country where one forgives 
the terrorists but crushes the jobs of family men within a 
week of the 'Eid celebration (to mark the end of Ramadan). 
Isn't it a shame?" 
 
LIFE FOR ALGERIANS MAY BE NO BETTER ABROAD... 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (U) Monitoring reports of the acute social and economic 
crisis affecting neighboring France, widely circulated in the 
Algerian press, especially the electronic media, leads many 
Algerians to wonder how the "social ladder" did not benefit 
the millions of children of Algerian immigrants born on 
French soil.  A number of Algerians tell Embassy contacts, 
and the media, that France considers youth of Algerian origin 
to be second-class citizens.  Algerians sympathize with their 
anger and tell us repeatedly that this is "what happens when 
people are excluded.  We fully sympathize with (the rioters 
in France) and fully support them."  One university professor 
told us it was not coincidental that the GOA, which maintains 
a monopoly on electronic media, shows pictures on television 
of a France on fire.  "Such coverage goes beyond informing 
the public, for it is a way for the Government to demonstrate 
to the youth of Algeria that the grass is not really greener 
(or even green) on the other side of the fence.  The 
Government wants to put an end to the dreams of a one-way 
ticket to France." 
 
 
ERDMAN