U.S. State Department: Algeria's Banking System Is Underdeveloped

U.S. State Department praised, in its annual report, Algeria’s fight against international terrorism, but it strongly criticized the banking system of the country and described it as underdeveloped and bureaucratic, registering that the Algerian economy is still in the grip of the illegal and parallel markets.

“Algeria was an important partner in the fight against terrorism. It has a long history in the field, and also devoted considerable resources to it.”

 Washington registered the presence of four terrorist organizations in the country which are “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb”, the “Tawhid and Jihad”, “Al Mourabitoune”” and “Soldiers of the caliphate” which belongs to ISIS, and the number of terrorist operations reaches 62, while the joint security services eliminated 157 terrorists.

The annual report, that was issued by the U.S. State Department was published on its website, on Thursday, and it shows positivity to Algeria, certainly on its active role in the fight against terrorism, and actions that were taken to address the phenomenon, both in the security side, or in the political or economic, or religious sides. It pointed to the threats against Algeria, especially the chaos in the neighbouring countries, the drug trafficking and the parallel market.

The beginning of the report refers to the terrorist organizations that are active in Algeria, and the document said that organizations rely on the use of improvised explosive devices and bomb attacks, false check points, and participating in the abduction. It confirms the fact that have been no terrorist kidnappings, and quoted the government as saying that it used a strict policy and will not provide concessions on the issue of hostage-taking by terrorists.

Regarding the terrorist organization ISIS, the report stated that “Officials in the Algerian government, religious leaders and politicians publicly condemned ISIS, and criticized the acts of violence that are committed in the name of Islam, and also registered that four cells which have in their ranks a few of the elements, declared allegiance to the organization, and the source asserts that security services eliminated 20 ISIS elements in a large combing operation in Boumerdes (eastern Algiers).

“Algeria followed a strict crackdown on all terrorist activities by the police in urban areas, and the army and gendarmerie in the Kabylian region, in the east of the capital and the large desert areas.”

“Growing terrorist threat is due to instability in the neighbouring countries, like Libya, Tunisia and the situation in Mali. The government asserted that the border security is still a top priority in anticipation of the infiltration of terrorists from neighbouring countries. Closed military zones and strict control were installed in the Eastern borders, and 75.000 soldiers were deployed there to monitor the southern and eastern borders of the country, including 50.000 on the border with Libya.”