Algerian foreign minister to Europe 1: Algeria to lift the state of emergency in 'coming days'

While many international observers have predicted the expansion of the so called “ revolution” that toppled the tyrannical regimes of Tunisia and Egypt to Algeria, the Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci has considered the calls launched by the Algerian Coordination for Democracy and Change to stage marches in Algiers every Saturday as a non-event.

• Talking on the French Radio “Europe 1”, the minister has asserted that “Algeria was neither Egypt, nor Tunisia”, downplaying the protests, referring to them as “minority” and will change nothing in reality.
• Answering to a question concerning the request to lift up the state of emergency in force since 1993, Mourad Medelci has declared that the government has already decided to cancel this law, stressing that the issue is a matter of time and that the “ state of emergency will be lift up within few days”.
• To recall, the Algerian interior minister has revealed that a committee made up of three ministries including the interior, justice and defense was set up and assigned the task to elaborate a law to fight against terrorism following the decision made by the president Bouteflika to lift up the state of emergency.