Jazairana

Random highlights from the Algerian media - because English speakers need to follow Algeria news too

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Lebanon at peace - the Security Council says so, so it must be true (?)


Today, Algerian newspapers react to the not quite ceasefire in Lebanon. El Khabar's cartoonist (left) sees a simple message: "Now that the Arab regimes have revealed their loyalty to Israel... The future is for the Arab resistance." (The bin is labelled "Dustbin of History".) The paper's headline has "Olmert government sends 30,000 troops into southern Lebanon: 51 Israeli soldiers killed and 48 injured in fierce combat with Hezbollah, helicopter downed and several Merkava tanks destroyed."

Ech Chourouk go for "Ech Chourouk visits Nasrallah's house: The Israeli spy planes were above us... 'Come on guys, get inside, get inside, there's planes in the sky...' We hid under a tree for a little, because the Emka spy planes are blind - they don't see in the shade". The front-page editorial next to it is entitled "The war is not over!"

El Watan has "Large-scale Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon: The massacre continues. Despite the unanimous Security Council call for a ceasefire Friday night, Israel continues its aggression, spreading its ground offensive to the maximum. Putting Olmert's Wednesday decision into effect, the Israeli command have effectively tripled the number of Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil...

Liberte goes for "The Lebanon war finished at 6 this evening with 1,145 deaths. Near-East: Until next time... The sixth Arab-Israeli war finished in confusion, with both camps claiming victory. Neither American strategic plans nor Israeli military domination prevailed."

Thursday, August 10, 2006

EU fears Algerian-Russian gas alliance

And on the subject of oil and gas... Bear in mind: "40% of EU gas imports originate from Russia (30% Algeria, 25% Norway)". The Gazprom-Sonatrach deal, along with continued turmoil in the Middle East raising prices, could help keep Algeria's foreign currency revenues high for years to come.

Gulf Times, Stratfor.

PS: It seems Algeria has something else to offer in the deal: LNG technology.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Algeria's oil and gas

Some handy maps of Algeria's main source of revenue:
* Where Algeria's petrochemical deposits are;
* Where the pipelines run;
* and, perhaps most interestingly, which companies are involved.

For the top buyers of Algeria's oil and gas as of 2004 (other products make up only about 2.3% of Algeria's exports, so they're negligible in this), see this table: USA, then Italy, France, Spain, then the Netherlands and Canada. (If you added the EU up, of course, it would be significantly ahead of the US.)

And if you were wondering who the heck all those companies are, I checked where they're based:

AGIP - Italy
ALEPCO - Libya + Algeria
Amerada Hess - US
Anadarko - US
BHP - Australia & UK
CNPC - China
FCP - Canada
GDF - France
Gulf Keystone - independent (UK, UAE, US, Kuwait)
Medex - France
Petrocanada - Canada
Petronas - Malaysia
PIDC - Pakistan
Repsol YPF - Spain & Argentina
Rosneft - Russia
SINOPEC - China
Statoil - Norway
Total - France
Numhyd - Tunisia + Algeria

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Constitution change; Cheb Khaled calls for jihad; bombs defused; illegal immigrants saved

Constitutional amendment updates: A month after Bouteflika announced his plans to revise the constitution, Boualem Bessaieh, the president of the Constitutional Council, has been put by Bouteflika in charge of the Constitution Revision Commission. He was described by Liberte's source as "a faithful old friend of the President of the Republic in whom he places unreserved confidence."

Ech Chourouk's headline: 'Nasrallah shames Arab rulers' connivance: "Be men, if only for a day". Israel bombs north of Beirut and attacks Christian areas.' Two editorials are devoted to praising Chavez and attacking the Saudis, respectively. Keep this up much longer, and I'm gonna start suspecting them of having turned socialist :) A rather sardonic brief article announces that Cheb Khaled, the "King of Rai", has urged "that the road should be opened for youths to go to Lebanon and engage in jihad against the Israeli aggression".

Bomb in Bordj-el-Bahri injures two policemen; two other bombs defused in Boumerdes.

Coast guard in Arzew save 11 illegal immigrants from death when the overcrowded fishing boat they were attempting to reach to Spain in sank.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

More Algerian headlines: Lebanon, Qaddafi, Iran

Lebanon is still on the front page of all the main Algerian newspapers, obviously:
  • El Khabar speaks to the Lebanese Red Cross: Lebanon experiencing unparalleled humanitarian disaster
  • Ech Chourouk: The resistance respond to Israeli allegation with 300 rockets, and are fighting on five fronts
  • El Watan: Renewal of Hezbollah attacks: Rockets rain on Israel
  • Liberte: Israeli intelligence involved in the war: When Mossad hunts Hezbollah.


In other news, Liberte report that Qaddafi was behind the recent Tuareg rebellion in Mali, as part of some kind of strategy to promote a "Great Saharan" Tuareg state, and took advantage of the death of Hadj Akhamokh and subsequent succession disputes to do so. I seem to remember similar reports a while back from Ech Chourouk, but who knows.

El Watan reports the establishment of the Iranian Trade Center in Algiers (Cheraga).

Blair

Nothing to do with Algeria, but I just noticed that Tony Blair appears to live in a different universe than the rest of us:
...there are many reasons for long-term optimism. Across the Middle East, there is a process of modernisation as well as reaction. It is unnoticed but it is there: in the UAE, in Bahrain, in Kuwait, in Qatar. In Egypt, there is debate about the speed of change but not about its direction [sic!.] In Libya and Algeria, there is both greater stability and a gradual but significant opening up.

Ali Belhadj briefly rearrested

Ali Belhadj got arrested for demonstrating in front of the American Embassy with banners saying "Oh rulers of the Arabs, close the embassies of Zionist terrorism" and "Stop the flow of oil to Bush's bloodthirsty government, and kick the petrol companies out of the land of the 1.5 million martyrs." He allegedly received a sympathetic reception from the police, who agreed with him on the Lebanon issue (his opinions are scarcely controversial on this point, after all!) but were legally required to prevent unauthorised demonstrations. He was released later that day, and placed under close security observation. Ashara Al Awsat, Angry Arab.