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Algeria

Algeria to lift state of emergency in near future

The President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, says he is going to lift the country’s 19-year state of emergency in the “very near future”, in a move that is seen to reflect concern about unrest at home and in neighbouring countries.

Reuters
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Bouteflika says the state of emergency was imposed to “fight terrorism” and denied that it had interfered with the country’s political process in remarks cited by APS news agency on Thursday.

Opponents of Bouteflika accuse him of using the state of emergency to ban protest marches in

the capital Algiers. Human rights groups and unions are planning a massive rally in the capital later in the month.

"To be sure, the capital is an exception in this aspect for well-known reasons of public order and certainly not to stop any sort of expression," Bouteflika said.

The state of emergency was imposed in 1992 when a civil war broke out between the government and Islamists, a conflict that left up to 200,000 dead.

Bouteflika said he would task the government "to tackle without delay the drafting of appropriate texts" to continue the fight against terrorism. He insisted that protests inspired by unrest in Tunisia and Egypt have been allowed in most Algerian towns, except in Algiers.

Demonstrators who took part in rallies have called for the ban to be lifted in Algiers and for the release of detainees and greater human rights.

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