Info4Migrants ALGERIA PROFILE 1 AREA 2 381 714 km2 POPULATION 37.9 million GDPper capita $5886 CURRENCY Algerian dinar Language ARABIC TAMAZIGHT Photo2 by James Barker at freedigitalphotos.net MAIN INFORMATION Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the Arab world. It is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Capital: Algiers. Other big cities in Algeria are Oran, Constantine and Setif. Flag Climate: the coastline climate is Mediterranean with mild, humid winter and hot, dry summer. Sahara, which takes The flag of Algeria consists of two vertical stripes – green about 80% of the territory of the country has a desert (symbolizing Islam) and white climate. (symbolizing peace). There is a red crescent and a star located in Ethnicity: about 99% of the population of Algeria is the middle, which also symbolize composed of Arabs and Berbers, there are between 600 Islam. 000 and 2 million Algerians, Turks, descendants of Turks that have come during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, and 25 000 French. Religion: Islam 99% (mainly Sunnis), there are also 45 000 Catholics in the country and 50 000 – 100 000 Protestants. Government: semi-presidential republic with bicameral parliament; authoritarian regime. “Location Algeria AU Africa” by Alvaro1984 18 - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http:// 3 commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Location_Algeria_AU_Africa.svg#mediaviewer/File:Location_Algeria_AU_Africa.svg FOREIGN RELATIONS Algeria maintains friendly relations with its neighbors Tunisia, Libya, Mali and Niger. Algeria has a leading role in the discussions and decision-making on different issues related to Africa and during 2000 it hosts the Conference for African Unity. Algeria also plays a key role for the beginning of peace negotiations between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000. Algeria works in close cooperation with its neighbors in Africa for establishing a new African partnership. Algeria and its neighbors play important role in the reviving of the Arab Maghreb union. The tension between Algeria and Morocco related to Western Sahara is an obstacle on the way of strengthening the Arab Maghreb union, established in 1989. Egypt withdraws its ambassador from Algeria in November 2009, after an attack of the Algerian national soccer team over Egyptian fans, after the end of playoffs in Cairo for the World Cup in 2010 (although the bus of the Algerian players is attacked first and FIFA rules against Egypt). Algeria is part of the European Neighborhood Policy, which aims at bringing the countries of the EU and their neighbors closer. Two of the main principles of this policy are the encouragement and rewarding of the best, as well as the faster and flexible granting of financial aid. In July 2001 president Abdelaziz Bouteflika becomes the first Algerian president to have visited the White House after 1985. After the attacks of September 11, the contacts between Algeria and the U.S. on key issues of mutual interest, including implementation of the law and unified actions in fighting terrorism, become more frequent. Algeria condemns the attack over U.S. and strongly supports the international fight against terrorism. Algeria and the U.S. work in close cooperation on key international and religious issues. 4 Photo by domdeen at freedgitalphotos.net FACTS ABOUT ALGERIA Coat of Arms Algeria’s coat of arms is the hand of Fatima (traditional symbol of the region), placed in front of the Atlas Mountains, and the sun is rising above them – a symbol of the new era. There are also buildings depicted on the coat of arms – symbol of industry, and plants – symbol of agriculture. The traditional symbols of Islam are present in the coat of arms as well – a crescent and a star. The writing in Arabic language says: "People's Democratic Republic of Algeria". Arabic language The official language is the literary Arabic (common for all Arab countries), but in everyday life about 70% of the population use the spoken Algerian-Arabic language, which contains many words from the Berber and French languages. From 2002, the Tamazig Berber language also becomes a national language, which is spoken by 27-30% of the population. French language is also widely used (amongst 2/3 of the population). Algeria is the second biggest French Photo by David Castillo Dominici at freedigitalphotos.net speaking country in the world and French is widely used in the government institutions, the media, the schools and the universities. Government Algeria is a semi-presidential republic. The president is elected for a period of 5 years. He summons and rules the government, appoints the Prime Minister. The legislative power in Algeria is represented by a bicameral parliament. The upper chamber – the Council of the Nation has 144 places for senators, 2/3 being elected proportionally from the population and 1/3 appointed by the president. The lower chamber – the People’s National Assembly has 462 places for members of parliament, elected every 5 years. “Seal of Algeria” by Jackaranga - self-made from Image:Algeria emb (1976).gif. No reference indicated by uploader. Apparent- 5 ly based on this image (national-symbol.com). Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Seal_of_Algeria.svg#mediaviewer/File:Seal_of_Algeria.svg FACTS ABOUT ALGERIA The capital of Algiers Algiers (Arabic: al-Jazā’er) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea and the city’s harbor is the most important one for the imports in the country. The lands of the present day capital have been inhabited since Roman times, but the city was founded during the 10th century by Buluggin ibn Ziri, founder of the Berber dynasty Zirid-Sanhadja. On the place of the ancient Roman town today stands the old district Kasbah (Old town), which still holds remnants from Roman times and is under the protection of UNESCO. Recently the president of Algeria announced five mega projects, aiming at turning the capital of the country into a contemporary, modern city – renewal of the Railway station, development of the coastal zone, construction of tourist complexes in the surroundings of the city, construction of a new residential zone, etc. In antiquity The most ancient traces of people in North Africa have been discovered in Aïn el-Hanech region (Saida province) – 200 000 years B.C. During the Middle Paleolithic, the manufacturing of different tools has been most developed in the territories of present day Algeria and the tools created during this epoch are called Aterian, by the name of the archeological area of Bir el Ater. The Neolithic civilization (taming of the animals and development of agriculture) emerged in the region of Maghreb around 11 000 B.C. The life of the ancient tribes is depicted on the rock drawings of the Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, which is part of UNESCO’s cultural world heritage. Gradually the tribes inhabiting present Algeria, gain “Timgad rue” by PhR61 - originally posted to mutual cultural shape and identity and begin to call Flickr as IMG_0890. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via themselves Berbers – the indigenous population of North Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikime- dia.org/wiki/File:Timgad_rue.jpg#mediaviewer/ Africa. File:Timgad_rue.jpg 6 Photo by franky242. at freedigitalphotos.net FACTS ABOUT ALGERIA Geography Algeria is situated in the Northern part of Africa, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Sahara desert covers 80% of the country’s territory and consists of separate sand (Grand Erg Occidental, Grand Erg Oriental, Erg-Iguidi, Erg-Chech) and rocky (Tanezruft, Tingert, Tademait, El-Eglab) deserts. All rivers in Algeria are reservoirs which are being filled during the rainy season. The valleys of the lakes also get filled during the rainy season and dry during the summer, when they get covered with salt crust up to 60 cm. Photo by m_bartosch at freedigitalphotos.net Economy The economy is controlled by the country, which is a consequence of the socialist model of development of the country, after declaring its independence. In the recent years the Algerian government stopped the privatization of the state-owned industries and imposes restrictions on the import and foreign intervention on its economy. Liquid fuels are the backbone of the economy in Algeria and constitute 60% of the budget income, 30% of the GDP and more than 97% of the income from exports. The country holds 10-12 place in the “Oil refinery in Homs, 2010” by High Contrast - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 de via Wiki- world in terms of petrol export, and 4-5 place for media Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/ natural gas. wiki/File:Oil_refinery_in_Homs,_2010.jpg#media- viewer/File:Oil_refinery_in_Homs,_2010.jpg 7 Photo by Gualberto107 at freedigitalphotos.net FACTS ABOUT ALGERIA Food independence Very small part of Algeria’s land is agricultural land, the country is forced to import about 45% of the food it uses. Agriculture is concentrated in the Tell Atlas region, part of the Atlas Mountains. The main agricultural crops that are grown are wheat, barley, potatoes and oats. Dates and figs are also produced for export. Photo by Praisaeng at freedigi- talphotos..net Islam The predominant religion in Algeria is the Islam (mainly Sunnis). Islam has emerged in the lands of present Saudi Arabia. Among some of the duties of Muslims are to pray five times a day – at dawn, during lunchtime, in the afternoon, at dusk and in the evening. Friday is a holy day for the Muslims. During holy Ramadan all Muslims don’t eat and don’t drink water from dawn till dusk.