US report: Algeria pursues a big campaign to eliminate terrorism

US Department of State said Algeria pursued a big campaign to eliminate all the terror actions inside their borders. It also continued its security efforts to foil terror acts in urban areas. The US administration warned against the danger of instability in neighborhood countries. Washington criticized the Algerian government for the decline of its financial system. Algeria showed satisfaction about the US report remarks.

“Algeria continued an aggressive campaign to eliminate all terrorist activity within its borders, and sustained its policing efforts to thwart terrorist activity in urban centers,” said the US report.

“Regional political and security instability contributed to Algeria’s terrorist threat. Terrorist groups and criminal networks in the Sahel attempted to operate around Algeria’s nearly 4,000 miles of borders. Continuing instability in Libya, terrorist groups operating in Tunisia, fragile peace accord implementation in Mali, as well as human and narcotics trafficking, were significant external threats,” it added.

Speaking about borders security, the US Department of State said it “remained a top priority to guard against infiltration of terrorists from neighboring countries.”

It mentioned new measures taken by Algeria such as “closed military border areas, new observer posts in the east, reinforced protection of energy installations, additional permanent facilities for border control management, new aerial‑based surveillance technologies and upgrades to communication systems.”

The report also said the Algerian government maintained a strict “no concessions” policy with regard to individuals or groups holding its citizens hostage.

It added that the government pursued its efforts to tighten the nose on terror groups. It mentioned some attacks on security forces carried out by Al-Qaeda or ISIS.

Speaking about international cooperation to counter terrorism, the US Department of State said “Algeria is not a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS; however, Algeria actively supported the effort to defeat ISIS in other ways, such as counter-messaging, capacity-building programs with neighboring states, and co-chairing the Sahel Region Capacity-Building Working Group (SWG) of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).”

The report also said the Algerian government’s “policies underscore the value of state oversight for religious education, including by the training and credentialing of imams as a way to promote social stability and ensure they do not incite violence or promote intolerance through their teaching and preaching.”

“The Algerian government appoints, trains, and pays the salaries of imams. The penal code outlines punishments, including fines and prison sentences, for anyone other than a government-designated imam who preaches in a mosque,” it added.

Banking system is underdeveloped and bureaucratic

The US report criticized the banking system in Algeria, saying it is “underdeveloped and tightly monitored by Algerian authorities. Processes within the banking system are bureaucratic and require several checks at various points of the money transfer process, and a large informal cash-based economy has developed.”

In a release issued by the foreign ministry on Thursday, Algeria expressed satisfaction over the report contents in general.