Algerian Defence Ministry set to sort out late draftees' situation

The military service department at the National Defence Ministry started on Saturday March 14, 2008 an assessment operation aimed at sorting out the situation of those late conscripts who have failed to join their respective Army barracks as part of the fulfilment of their military service duty.

In a press release issued recently, the National Defence Ministry said all the arrangements had been made by the relevant department to receive all the latecomers, carrying their personal documents, in four stages in accordance with their respective date of birth.

Five days will be made available for each group of late draftees at the local Army centre of every province of the country for the compulsory medical check up and other formalities necessary for a conscription under the national flag.

Meanwhile, National Defence Ministry sources told Echorouk newspaper that the ongoing professionalisation of the Algerian Army did not imply at all a scrapping or a curtailment of the national military service.

The same sources underlined, in this respect, that all able-bodied youngsters reaching the required age, had the duty to accomplish their military service without fail, similarly to many other countries worldwide.