Algerian President Abdelaziz BouteflikaBy IDN Middle East Desk Courtesy of IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
(IDN) - In an apparent move to improve its image in the West, Algeria has decided to allow several international non-governmental organizations, previously banned, to return to the county in September 2010. According to the Algerian daily 'El Akhbar', the organizations include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross, and the International Centre for Prison Studies.
These were dubbed as "undesirable" by the government and accused of spreading "false and irresponsible" reports about the country. No official reason was given for lifting the ban, but quoting the Algerian daily, web-based 'The Media Line' said that "Algeria has been under extensive pressure from international development and rights organizations to open up their borders to them".
There were no indications whether the Associations Act of 1990, the current law governing civil society organizations in Algeria, adopted just before the 1992 military coup, is being modified. The law is highly restrictive, giving the government extensive powers to register, monitor and sanction civil society organizations.
Rights advocates say the law's vague language, coupled with the state of emergency in the country, means little protections for the right to association or freedom of speech, Benjamin Joffe-Walt wrote in a report published on August 18 in The Media Line.
In yet another move to restore Algeria's tarnished image, the government led by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took action on embezzlement cases that have hit the country's state controlled energy company, Sonatrach.
In an article published on August 11, Abdelghani Henni, the editor of 'Petrochemicals Middle East', wrote that the internal strife has caused the cancellation of many contracts which had been awarded in an over-the-counter (OTC) trading basis without tenders. The whole process of reviewing the tendering process and the award of packages is now being completely revamped.
"The Sonatrach corruption scandal showed how a national energy company was effectively being run as a family business. Senior executives were creating companies for their sons and sometimes their wives, and then awarding them multimillion dollar contracts. There was no transparency and the swathes of red tape bureaucracy made even legitimate bidders look complicit," wrote Henni.
This article and the El Akhbar report, published on August 17, came within weeks of the risk intelligence and rating company Maplecroft saying that human security was "a key business risk" in a country described as one of the 'African Lions', a term coined to describe the continent's strongest economies.
The company said in an in-depth report that "terrorist attacks, kidnappings and complicity in human rights violations by security services constitute primary risks for investors and businesses in Algeria".
Algeria is currently attracting foreign investment and is projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to grow at 4.6 percent over the course of 2010. "However, business operating within the country is vulnerable to human security risks," the UK-based Maplecroft said in a report on July 22, 2010.
AQIM
Furthermore, Algeria continues to experience attacks by militant Islamists, the strongest and most dangerous of which is al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). "The group poses a direct security risk to Westerners and other foreigners in the country and is responsible for targeting the assets of foreign companies."
Two major incidents in 2009 illustrate the risks posed by AQIM, according to Maplecroft. In October 2009, six private security guards working for Canadian engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin were killed during an ambush in the Kabylie region, east of Algiers.
In June 2009, gunmen ambushed an Algerian security convoy escorting Chinese construction workers to a high-profile public works project in the Bordj Bou Arreridj province. At least 18 policemen and one Chinese worker were killed.
"Foreign companies, especially within the oil and gas industries, should be aware that the targeting of business interests constitutes one of AQIM's key objectives. In a July 2008 interview with the New York Times, AQIM leader, Abdelmalek Droukdal, stated that AQIM would target U.S. commercial interests -- in particular those that seek to control the region's energy riches," the report said.
It points out that AQIM's threat to security in Algeria is reflected in the government's claims that its security forces killed, injured or arrested an estimated 1,300 suspected terrorists in 2009. The total number of deaths in Algeria as a result of terrorism-related conflict amounted to 804 in the same year, according to government figures.
Kidnappings, particularly of foreigners, have proven to be a popular tool through which AQIM has sought to finance its operations -- releasing hostages for ransom payments. It has also used kidnappings to secure the release of prisoners and gain the attention of the international media.
SNC-Lavalin was targeted again in January 2010, when an Algerian engineer working for the company was kidnapped in Djebahia, 120km from Algiers. In March 2010, AQIM was implicated in another incident when Algerian security forces announced that they were investigating the disappearance of an Israeli national approximately 800 kilometres south of the capital in the oil-rich city of Hassi Messaoud.
Because of this, Maplecroft has rated the country as "extreme risk" in its Kidnapping Index, ranking it 13 out of 196 countries.
According to the risk intelligence and rating company, firms operating in Algeria also face the risk of association with past and present human rights violations committed by members of the security forces.
Companies risk complicity in violations committed by state security forces and former members of the military and police who are employed as private contractors to protect staff and assets.
The report warns that both private and state security forces may have been involved in egregious human rights violations, including disappearances, torture and killing of civilians during, or after, Algeria's civil war (1992-2002).
"Companies must therefore take measures to reduce the risks of complicity with human rights abuses by security forces," advises Maplecroft.
While the number of human rights violations committed by members of the security forces in the post-civil war period pale to those committed during the 1990s, impunity remains a problem. Reports of torture, arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detention by members of the security forces persist under the pretext of the fight against terrorism.
The over 30 page report contains detailed analysis across the areas of human security, labour rights and protection, civil and political rights, and access to remedy, and a profile of Hassi Messoud, a major oilfield and city in eastern-central Algeria.
Other features include country scores from Maplecroft's 30 human rights risk indices, sub-national maps of terrorism and human security incidents (which provide details of licensed oil and gas blocks), key recent events and stakeholder views.
