World Amazigh Congress called on the United Nations to protect Mozabite minority

By African Bulletin on February 13, 2014

World Amazigh Congress ( CMA ) called on the United Nations to intervene to put an end to the “crimes ” and ” violent attacks generated by some of Chaamba with “complicity of the Algerian police authorities ” against Mozabite community (Berber) in the region of Ghardaya.”

” To the extent that the Algerian government does not ensure the protection of civilians Mozabites Valley Mzab , CMA has called on UN to Nations to intervene to put an end to stop the crimes in this area before they become atrocities mass , “said a statement issued by the CMA in Paris , calling on the international community to take responsibility and to act for the protection of human rights of this minority in Algeria

Since the beginning of 2014 , clashes have left ” five deaths so far , and hundreds injured , some of whom remain disabled for life,” said a statement from CMA, adding that “tens of homes and vehicles were vandalized or burned , tombs and mausoleums Mozabites millennia have been desecrated .”

According to the CMA, “These acts of high gravity motivated by racial hatred have been perpetrated under the eyes of many police agents involved only to defend the Arab population and to shoot tear gas at the demonstrators Mozabites . And even when some criminals were arrested, they were immediately released. “

Complaining that “the Algerian government has not taken any serious measures likely to stop the violence and to effectively protect people ,” CMA ” expresses its deep indignation at the behavior of the Algerian government which has let the situation fester then degenerate . “

“The Algerian authorities endorse full responsibility for these serious violence acts have devastated hundreds of families,” the CMA stated in a public declaration.

In fact tis declaration came just after a Berber died of his wounds Thursday in Algeria’s desert city of Ghardaia, bringing to five the number killed during weeks of violence between two rival communities, local sources said.

The latest death came as the interior minister and police chief visited the city of 90,000 inhabitants, which has been rocked since December by clashes between the Chaamba community of Arab origin and the majority Mozabites, indigenous Berbers belonging to the Ibadi Muslim sect.

“A young Mozabite died on Thursday afternoon. His wounds were so bad that he still hasn’t been identified,” Nourddine Daddi Nounou, a member of the Mozabite community, said in a statement to AFP.

It was the second fatality in two days, after a 20-year-old Mozabite was stabbed to death on Wednesday, community leader Mohamed Tounsi said.

Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz vowed to boost security in Ghardaia and underlined “the determination of the state to vigorously apply the law” in the face of violence against people and property, the national APS agency quoted him as saying.

Belaiz, who was accompanied by police chief Abdelghani Hamel and the head of the national gendarmerie, Ahmed Bousteila, announced a new security operations centre to be jointly run by the two forces.

“The security structures in the region of Ghardaia will be multiplied three- or four-fold, to completely restore peace and order,” he said.

The latest violence between youths from the two communities erupted on Tuesday when some of them set fire to a Mozabite teaching centre, according to Tounsi.

More than 30 people have since been wounded and dozens of shops and houses torched in the hilltop city in the M’Zab valley, which is classified as a UNESCO world heritage site and lies 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of Algiers.

Analysts have warned that the fragile region could be engulfed by the sectarian violence in Ghardaia, which both sides accused the other of starting, but which was enflamed by the destruction of a historic Berber shrine in late December.

The two communities have coexisted for centuries, but as elsewhere in the region, limited economic opportunities, despite the proximity of Algeria’s vast oil and gas wealth, have aggravated social tensions.

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