2009 in Algeria - May

May

• May 4: The criminal court in the jurisdiction of Tizi Ouzou sentenced three people to life imprisonment on a charge of forgery. The same court sentenced three other individuals to twenty-year sentences without suspension. The case dates back to July 25, 2006 when the court of Azazga received a complaint from France.

• May 4: The Tunisian group Loukil, formed in 1998, is near opening an industrial unit in Algeria. The company is expected to invest eight million pounds after acquiring a plant in the Azaba region in Annaba. The firm makes steel structures used in construction workshops and infrastructures.

• May 6: The Bank of Algeria is initiating a new system for opening and managing bank accounts in foreign currency. Specifically, new regulations focus on curbing concealed embezzlements by foreign companies, their owners and managers.

• May 6: There are a growing number of medical mistakes in hospitals and medical centers throughout Algeria. 200 medical errors remain pending from 2006. The Chairman of the Council of Medical Deontology is requesting that a law be enacted requiring private clinics to be insured.

• May 11: Mohand Issaad, head of a fact-finding panel regarding events in the Kabylie region in 2001, describes Algerian justice as a caricature-like situation. He attributes the causes to congestion of people, as well as economic, social, and cultural factors.

• May 11: The Office of National Exams and Contests (ONEC) stated that up to forty centers of exam correction have been opened in Algeria. From twenty to fifty teachers in each province will be assigned the task of correcting exams. Technical reasons have prevented the opening of such centers in some southern provinces like Tindouf, IIizi, Adrar, and Tamenrasset.

• May 11: Amari Saifi, a former Algerian Islamist leader, is urging leaders of al Qaeda's North African wing to lay down their arms. A security crackdown has resulted in a sharp decrease in attacks. Saifi planned the 2003 kidnapping of thirty-two tourists. He wants remaining insurgents to accept a longstanding amnesty offer.

• May 13: Kim Jong Il sent a telegram congratulating Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on being reappointed prime minister.

• May 20: Spanish police arrested thirteen people in Bilbao who are suspected of financing Islamic militants in Algeria. Authorities broke up a gang of twelve Algerians and one Iraqi who are thought to be involved in drug trafficking, and robbery.

• May 22: The Algerian coast guard has arrested twenty-two illegal migrants whose ages range from 17 to 31 in Annaba province. Traveling in a handmade boat four miles north of Cape Ras El Hamra, their destination was the Italian coast.

• May 22: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has announced a fifteen-day deadline for the English negotiator prior to executing an English tourist held by the organization since the beginning of 2009. Al Qaeda is using the English tourist as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of Abu Qatada El Filastini, alias Mohamad Abou Omar, age 48.

• May 22: A French court has rejected demands from military veterans for millions of dollars in compensation for thirty years of nuclear testing in Algeria and French Polynesia. However the French government is planning to draft legislation to compensate some victims of nuclear testing.