Tayeb Belaiz: “Internal malevolent circles fuel tensions in Ghardaia”

Algerian Minister of the Interior and Local Assemblies, Tayeb Belaiz, has asserted that there is no tangible evidence likely to confirm the implication of foreign quarters in the violent incidents which have been wracking the southern oasis town of Ghardaia over the past few weeks.

Mr. Belaiz also emphasized that the peace – making endeavor launched recently by the government had not fizzled out as claimed by some ill – informed people.

The Interior Minister stressed that internal nefarious circles inside Algeria were covertly seeking to stoke tensions and to bring the already – volatile situation further downhill in the southern province of Ghardaia.

Weeks of heightened tensions between rival communities in the flashpoint oasis town of Ghardaia in southern Algeria have erupted into renewed violence, leaving one person dead and several injured, officials said.

Schools and shops were shut after a group of youths went on the rampage on Sunday, attacking five different neighbourhoods and after a 39-year-old man was stabbed in the chest at his home.

Another 10 people were wounded in the Sahara town 600km south of Algiers, among them three policemen, interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz said, cited by official Algerian media.

“The clashes continued until 07:00 (06:00 GMT) this morning. The police managed to restore calm,” Ahmed Baba Aissa, spokesman for the Ghardaia co-ordination committee, told reporters.

His association was created a month ago to try and defuse ongoing tensions between the local Chaambas and the Mozabites communities.

“Until Sunday, a group of youths was spreading fear by attacking different neighbourhoods, one after the other. Then yesterday [Sunday], five neighbourhoods were attacked simultaneously,” he said.

One local resident aged 29, was stabbed to death in his home and numerous others were wounded, he added.

Some well-meaning sources in Ghardaia, insisted the Chaambas and Mozabites had co-existed peacefully and in total harmony for centuries and accused “a shadowy gang of criminals” of being behind the latest violence, with the complicity of some local hidden troublemakers.

“Some want to wreak havoc in the once-peaceful Ghardaia province ahead of next April’s presidential elections as part of a covert destabilization scheme,” they underscored.