Belaiz: “Ghardaia province has regained its security and quietude”

State Minister, Minister of the Interior and Local Assemblies, Tayeb Belaiz, has stated that the province of Ghardaia in southern Algeria has now regained security and stability and that the situation is “under control” after the recent sectarian turmoil which beset the region.

In a statement to the press in Algiers, outside a plenary session at the Council of the Nation or upper house of Parliament devoted to oral questions, the interior minister underscored that “the situation is currently under control in Ghardaia” and that “the region has regained security and quietude.”

In this connection, Tayeb Belaiz argued that all the educational institutions and businesses of the province “are operating normally.”

Recalling the tragic events which wracked Ghardaia and its vicinity, the minister said that the situation has been marked, over the past few days by a restoration of security and stability, a positive development which has, he added, “comforted the hearts of all the Algerians.”

Belaiz also exhorted the local population there to make reason and wisdom prevail when dealing with this “sensitive” issue in order to ward off any further damaging drifts which could be detrimental to the country as a whole, he said.