2009 in Algeria - April

April

• April 5: A police officer who feared terrorists would kill him and his family committed suicide in Gouraya (Department of Tipaza). He ended his life with a service weapon after receiving death threats from a terrorist group.

• April 6: Al Qaeda warned Algerian voters against reelecting President Bouteflika in the April 9 election. In a statement posted on jihadi forums, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb called Bouteflika a ferocious enemy to Muslims. They asked for money and moral support for the mujahideen.

• April 6: Algerian authorities arrested thirty-five terrorists from various North African countries including Mauretania, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, and a single one from Mali. Each is thought to have ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The one Mali national is considered to be associated with the famous ivory case.

• April 6: Tunisian human rights activist, Sihem Bensidrene, was expelled on her arrival at Algiers' airport after arriving from Paris, France. She represented a working group monitoring Arab media. She was invited to Algeria by the LDDH. The group denounces the Bouteflika regime's opposition to the defenders of human rights in the Maghreb.

• April 9: President Bouteflika expressed sadness and pain upon hearing of the earthquake which struck L'Aquila, Italy on April 6. He transmitted a message of condolence to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

• April 10: Abdelaziz Bouteflika tallied 90.24% of the vote to earn a third mandate as Algerian president on April 9. Voting was carried out under tight security. Two incidents of violence occurred when a bomb exploded at a polling station in Imeghenine near Boumerdes, and a police officer died after a roadside bomb detonated in Tebessa.

• April 14: Mohammed Djahid Younsi, Ali Faouizi Rebaine, and Louisa Hanoune, challengers to Bouteflika in the April 9 presidential election, accused the administration of rigged elections throughout Algeria's forty-eight provinces. Hanoune plans to file a claim with the Constitutional Council with an appeal of the results.

• April 19: The upcoming Pan-African Festival will mark Africa's return to the international cultural stage. It will be held in Algiers forty years after the noted PanAf of 1969. Forty-four of the fifty-three member states of the African Union have confirmed that they will participate. Other nations which will attend include the United States, Cuba, Venezuela, and Brazil.

• April 23: Algeria Watch, a French and German human rights organization, estimates 10,000 people disappeared between 1992 - 1996 during the war between the Algerian government and Islamic rooted militants and guerrillas. President Bouteflika offered amnesty to rebels who gave up their insurgency in 2006. He has promised to expand his offer following his recent re-election.

• April 28: President Bouteflika reappointed Ahmed Ouyahia as Prime Minister after Ouyahia earlier submitted his resignation.

• April 28: The brother of a contractor in the town of Jijel was kidnapped by a terrorist group led by Noureddine, alias Djelbib.

• April 28: The father of Abou Daoud, 34, coordinator of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has been arrested by Algerian security forces in the Department of Tlemcen. Daoud sustained a serious injury during a fight between Moroccan police and members of his terrorist group. Born in 1975, he was responsible for logistics operations in Al Qaeda bases in Boumerdes and Tizi Ouzou.

• April 29: The Ministry of Health, Population, and Hospital Reform issued a communique which stated Algeria has the necessary means to combat swine flu.

• April 29: The strawberry fair is held every two years at the community arts centre in Jijel. The provincial agriculture department reports that the event is being attended by a number of producers and strawberry cultivators this year.