French tourists respond to their authorities: “It is a shame to lie on us. Algeria is a safe country”

Djanet (South of Algeria)-350 foreign tourists send a message of censure and condemnation to the French Foreign Ministry, denying the content of warning issued on last October, in which French authorities warned its nationals from visiting Algeria against the backdrop of an alleged terrorist risk.

French tourists who visited Illizi, South of Algeria, on October and November for fifteen to twenty days said the warning is false. They also told Echorouk Newspaper that it is a shame to hear such lies from the French authorities, and Algeria is a safe, stable country where people are good and hospitable.

“We visited the Algerian desert and moved there days and nights without any problem. The French Foreign Ministry linked the kidnapping of Areva employees in Arlit Niger, with the warning, but this is unfair because Arlit is very far from Djanet (South of Algeria) by over 850 km. it is strange and deplorable to link it with Algeria. We have the intention to visit the region again”, the French tourists added.

Previously, the French Foreign Ministry issued a warning on October 7, 2010 to its nationals of visiting Algeria, because of what is called “The current threats in the Sahel Region”. It warned specifically of visiting Tamenrasset and Djanet (South of Algeria), therefore linking the warning with the kidnapping of Areva employees in Arlit, and considering it an evidence of the terrorists’ intention to repeat such crimes, claiming that those intentions become stronger than any time before, and may spread in the Southern region of Algeria.