2009 in Algeria - July

July

• July 2: Russian industry sources report that Iran and Algeria are considering acquiring Russian-origin submarines in 2010. The particular submarines the countries desire are of the Project-636 and Amur-1650 classes.

• July 7: Karim Ziani, a midfielder (soccer) from Algeria, signed a four-year contract with Vfl Wolfsburg. Formerly with Olympique Marseille, the 26-year-old is the second signing by the German club since winning the championship of the Bundesliga in May.

• July 9: SNC-Lavalin Inc., announced that it will design a new city in Algeria, to be built over an eight-year period, which will be large enough for 80,000 inhabitants.

• July 13: Cuban President Raul Castro is in Algeria. He was greeted by Algerian President Bouteflika.

• July 13: The North African wing of Al Qaeda received $4.17 million for the release of Swiss hostage Werner Greiner. Greiner was handed over to authorities in the remote northern region of Mali on July 12. Greiner was kidnapped along with Edwin Dyer near the border of Mali and Niger on January 22. The source declined to say who paid the ransom.

• July 16: Support is building among the Algerian establishment for a new amnesty for al Qaeda members, even the most militant. However some, who formerly surrendered under previous amnesty offers, are taking up arms again, due to depressed living conditions.

• July 21: In the town of Dellys, Algerian security forces shot and killed a 25-year-old man who was wearing a belt which contained explosives. He planned to use a bomb against the coast guard in the town. The man, Omar Toudji, was a member of the Al Ansar cell of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He joined the fundamentalist guerrillas in 2004. Dellys is 100 kilometers east of Algiers.

• July 28: Six people died and twenty-five more were injured when a lorry, coach, and cross-country vehicle crashed. The lorry overtook another vehicle about thirty kilometers from the town of Chlef, west of Algiers. It collided with the coach and the car.

• July 30: Bouteflika has established two companies which will manufacture weapons for the Algerian defense industry. One company, EDIV, will be known by its French acronym. It will produce commercial vehicles for a factory in Tiaret, northwest Algeria.

• July 31: Algeria has joined Mali and Libya in planning an offensive against the Al-Qaeda network. The countries have agreed to share intelligence and to plan military operations against the terrorist organization.