Algeria has no reticence about Al Jazeera, Communication Minister says

Al-Jazeera’s refusal to sell the rights of broadcasting the match of Algeria vs. Burkina Faso for the qualifiers to the World Cup in Brazil, is an extortion, Communication Minister, Abdelkader Messahel said.

“Powers to grant the license to open an office for Qatari TV Channel is not of the Algerian television’s prerogative, which is not considered in any way a party negotiator in requesting the opening of Al Jazeera’s office in Algeria”, he added.

Messahel explained in a statement, on the sidelines of Sellal’s visit to Sidi Belabbes, western Algeria, that such a decision exceeds the prerogatives of the Algerian television. Al Jazeera added a purview relating to the adoption of an office in Algeria, and this exceeded the commercial nature of the contract, which frames the sale of rights to broadcast the match to quite another character.

“The issue of the adoption of the Office for any channel in any state is not easy, either for Algeria or elsewhere, because it requires the opinion of a number of sectors, including external and internal, and others”.

In response to a question regarding Algeria’s reservations and the reasons for its refusal to allow for the opening of an Office for Al Jazeera, Messahel said; “There are no reservations by the Algerian authorities, and it is not linked to the reservations, but every party has a special plan of action and strategy for conducting the state’s information policy, these strategies must be respected by the other.”