Algeria steps up border controls
2008-08-27
The Algerian government adopted a new law to step up border surveillance and improve communications between the customs authority and the gendarmerie.
By Achira Mammeri for Magharebia in Algiers – 27/08/08
 [Achira Mammeri] The Algerian government plans to establish 85 new border posts to fight smuggling, which helps finance terrorism. |
In a bid to close the net on terrorist networks, Algeria adopted a new law on August 3rd which authorizes the creation of 85 new border surveillance posts. The new security positions will be jointly run by the customs authority and the gendarmerie in effort to facilitate information sharing between the two agencies and co-ordinate their efforts to tackle smuggling, which many say helps fund terrorism.
Finance Minister Mohamed Abdou Bouderbala stated in an interview with El Djeich magazine that "[i]n view of the country's large area, the length of its borders and the type of smuggling going on in the south in particular, the national gendarmerie needs to be capable of launching ground-level operations which will enable it to help prevent smuggling."
Customs service inspector-general M. A. Mahrache, told Le Quotidien d’Oran on Sunday (August 24th) that the government plans to purchase a number of helicopters to "cover vast stretches of desert which ordinary mobile units cannot cover."
Ain Sefra, Tindouf, Biskra, Tamanrasset, Djanet, Timimoun Bechar and Tlemcen are all hotspots for smugglers trading in arms, fuel, livestock and drugs.
Incidents of smuggling are discovered almost daily on Algeria's eastern, western and southern borders and many more are believed to occur without the authorities' detection.
On August 19th, Algerian authorities recovered 324 litres of fuel abandoned by smugglers on the eastern border near Ain Zerga and El Metidja in Tebessa wilaya. Two days earlier, on the southern border, border guards in Borj-Badji Mokhtar caught two smugglers driving a car filled with 2,600 packs of cigarettes, 430 rolls of electric wiring and 600 bottles of lubricant bound for Debdeb in Illizi commune.
On August 23rd, police on the south-western border near Bechar opened fire at three smugglers taking 38 dromedaries to Morocco after they failed to heed orders to stop. Two of the smugglers sustained minor injuries and one was arrested. The same day, border guards near Tlemcen recovered 2,820 litres of fuel abandoned by smugglers at the border.
"It's very dangerous when you remember that there is a link between smuggling and terrorist groups," journalist and security expert Abderahim Saber told Magharebia.
"Drug money funds terrorism," Abdelmale Sayeh, director of the National Office for the Fight against Drugs and Drug Addiction, has told the press, based on statements made by terrorists.
Saber cited the case of the GSPC's former leader in the Sahara, Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
The terrorist "began to specialise in the smuggling trade after his isolation from the GSPC," Saber said.
"Algeria’s southern borders are a stronghold of the cigarette mafia, arms traffickers and armed groups. Four-wheel drive vehicles, cigarettes, marijuana and even weapons bring in millions if not billions for these groups every year," Saber added, saying the southern region also receives assistance from Tuaregs.
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ammar Posted 2008-08-27
Dear Sir, You say, “Traffic of all kinds”!!!??? The kinds of traffic between Morocco and Algeria are known. This consists of kif, weapons and oil. It is as easy as “1, 2, 3”. But, you do not dare say this in your article, because that would bother the Moroccan authorities. Being objective would give you some credibility.
Kabs Posted 2008-08-28
“The Touareg and Western Saharan Terrorists in the Al-Qaeda’s Southern Strongholds”. That is an article in the Algerian newspaper “El Khabar”. My friends, I think that the cancer you are propagating is going to turn back against you. It is necessary to attack this evil while it is still possible. This is not to mention what I reading more and more often, i.e., that the Touaregs want to ask for the independence of Southern Algeria! Beware!
chihab-25 Posted 2008-08-28
There is a contradiction between the title and the opening content of this article. This is not about Morocco. Be careful, editors!
slim16 Posted 2008-08-29
This decision was very wise, however late it may have been. Smuggling of all kinds will be a bit more locked down overall. This will permit the country to rid itself of the presence of the scum who live on both sides of the border and who engage in smuggling. Helicopters will be a great contribution to the merciless battle against the parasites on all sides who are sabotaging our country’s economy and ceaselessly denigrating it. "They want to have their cake and eat it too." Locking the border down well should put a stop to the arms that cross it only to kill our people. Locking down the border should put a stop to these damned drugs that are rotting our young people away over here. May they stay over there where they are grown and may they rot those who love to grow them!
visiteur de jour Posted 2008-08-31
Morocco also needs to reinforce its border. Well said, Ammar!
slim16 Posted 2008-08-31
My friend, Kabs, There is no need to be delirious or to spread disinformation, please. Algeria is right to reinforce its control over the border. Given the trafficking of weapons, drugs, cigarettes, gasoline and other supplies, it is indeed preferable to modernise: helicopters will offer a certain efficiency to hunting down outlaws. This is money well spent. We need to eradicate this phenomenon and, God willing, we are going to do so. Our Touaregs are as free as the wind, and that is why they are Algerian above all else. Our country has it all and, apart from disinformation that doesn’t fool a person, you cannot do anything about it. —From Algiers, Bye
SALIM-HABIBO Posted 2008-09-02
To Slim16: Either you have understood nothing or you are pretending to be ignorant of the giant political-profiteering mafia in power. Cross-border trafficking exists throughout the world and it only represents one water droplet in an ocean compared to what is embezzled by your clients. (They are “yours” because you advocate what cost Boudiaf his life for just wanting to know a bit more). And, you want numbers!? I will give them to you...
kabs Posted 2008-09-02
Slim, this is not disinformation- all the more so because I gave my sources, the Algerian newspaper “El Khabar”. And, I repeating myself because I am sure that you do not read my comments well. I completely agree with you that Algeria needs to strengthen its border: every country has this duty. Morocco also receives a lot of contraband products from Spain (many of which are rotten), but this is no reason to close the border with Spain; rather our customs service needs to be modernised.
MORAD Posted 2008-09-03
This government is isolating all of us and it is responsible for everything that is happening here. The will do anything so as not to leave power, criminalizing the emigrants, closing the border and so on. Instead of looking for the origin of the Algerians’ problems, corruption, and resolving it from the start, they are punishing the people.
slim16 Posted 2008-09-05
Hi Kabs, We must not make a comparison between what is happening on the Moroccan-Spanish border and the Moroccan-Algerian border, because, for us, weapons are making the most mayhem, permitting terrorists to arm themselves. Death is what is entering over here, while you take gasoline, food and medicine from us. In the end, everything good goes to you and everything disgusting goes to us. Do you think that that should change? You say that it is only necessary to modernise our customs service! Well, my friend, that is exactly what we did here. Helicopters will get the bad seeds thinking, putting them in danger. Fear needs to change camps, because when the border is properly secured, we can move onto other things. This Swiss-cheese border has done us too much harm, and, God willing, for the good of Algeria, we will remedy it by filling the holes. To Salim-Habibo: mafias exist everywhere in the world. Don’t make things out to be more than they are. Don’t sell your country out or, if you do, then just change your citizenship.
BAROUD Posted 2008-09-05
Why do Boudiaf’s assassins still run free and why do so many issues remain unclear? Is this man not worth his family demanding an independent investigation by the UN? There are witnesses who want to cleanse their consciences. Was he not a fully functioning president when he was assassinated? Is the Lebanese Harriri’s life worth more than Boudiaf’s? Is the blood of Algerians worth less than oil and gas? It is a shame to be an honest man here. Money will never replace the father of a family, and I am referring to his wife and children here. I tell the Algerian people that we must render justice ourselves and judge these shady people before they die of natural causes, because some of them have already departed. Thank you, Magharebia. (To be continued…)
Abou-soufiane Posted 2008-09-08
To Baroud: How many people have already died by the hands of the Islamists? Boudiaf was just one person; Algeria lost thousands of innocents.
Kabs Posted 2008-09-11
Mr Slim; Since when does Morocco deliver weapons to the terrorists? I do not know where you find your sources, but you need to take another look into this. I believe that it is quite the opposite case: Algeria is the one giving weapons to the Polisario. Moreover, the entire region of Sahel, which is full of armed bands that move around in complete liberty, has become a real dump for the Polisario, Touaregs and the Maghreb’s Al Qaeda. Mind your own business before blaming others. In Morocco, we have a wall to separate us in order to not permit this scum to come in over here, and I believe it is working.
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