Algerian President Bouteflika urges Muslim scholars to advise youth against terrorism deceptive lure

In a message sent on Monday to a conference of Muslim scholars and theologians, Algerian President Abdellaziz Bouteflika urged the men of worship to make it as a bounden duty to “cleanse” the minds of the youth by turning them away from all nefarious scourges like terrorism and illegal immigration.

President Bouteflika said that the Muslim scholars and preachers or Imams should clearly show the way to the people, particularly to the youth who are, he said, less impervious than others to deception and manipulation by the ” sowers of death” owing to their lack of maturity.

The youth, stressed the head of state, should be guided and oriented towards lofty and useful goals by notably getting to know deeply genuine Islam, a religion devoid in its essence of all deviation or extremism.

True Islam upholds the noble values of peace, tolerance and brotherhood and prohibits all forms of injustice and wrongdoing, President Bouteflika pointed out.

Concerning the illegal immigration phenomenon, Bouteflika emphasized that it was quite better for the youth to stay in their own country than to undergo deprivation and marginalisation in a foreign country, far away from their next of kin.