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Algeria: Authorities Begin to Worry About Youths Crossing Into Europe
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The Nation (Nairobi)
15 March 2008
Posted to the web 17 March 2008
Laeed Zaghlami
Nairobi
For a long time, nobody took their plight seriously. In the 1970s, the public contemptuously dismissed them as idlers or dealers in contraband goods, while the government acted as if they did not exist.
But now the number of young people risking their lives to leave Algeria in search of a better life in Europe, or harraga as they are known locally, has reached alarming levels and can no longer be ignored.
Many risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea in all sorts of ill-equipped vessels, determined to reach European shores. Some make it, others get arrested before they reach and are repatriated, yet others perish at sea.
"The authorities should act immediately to stop the 'youth drain,'" says a parent whose son disappeared after leaving for Europe from Beni Saf on the west coast.
"The alarming stories about these youngsters are a slap in the face to those who talk of major developments on the country's economic and social fronts."
The issue has been extensively covered by both the private and public media, including the army's official weekly, El Djeich.
Last year, 1,678 would-be illegal immigrants, 45 of them foreigners, were arrested in various towns on the Algerian coastline. Forty died and an unknown number disappeared.
And in January this year, 240 illegal immigrants were arrested. Of these, 114 are facing trial. This is a notable increase, compared with 73 cases for the whole of 2006.
The national coast guards have been vigilant along the country's 1,214km coastline, says Col Slimane Defairi of the communications unit.
"Our guards work round the clock to prevent youngsters from risking their lives on an uncertain journey across the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe," he offers, adding that the coast guards had acquired new equipment to enable them to monitor boats in Algerian harbours more effectively. But he acknowledges that it is difficult, since the traffickers have well organised rings.
There is a huge wave of illegal immigrants on the country's east and west coasts. The points of departure on the east coast are Annaba, Skikda and El Kala. It takes about 16 hours by boat to get to the Italian island of Sardinia from this region.
On the west coast, the immigrants leave from Mostaganem, Oran, Ain Temouchent and the cities of Beni Saf and Ghazaouet, close to the Moroccan border. This area is a few kilometres from the Spanish island of Almeiria.
"Although the area is close to Europe, the journey is extremely risky," says 34-year-old Ali Chadli, who has twice failed to reach Spain.
"You have to pay between 15,000 and 200,000 Algerian dinars ($3,000) for the trip. It is a growing business. Human trafficking networks are mushrooming in cafes and on the streets of the western city of Maghnia. Their main task is to register potential immigrants."
Many people cannot understand how young people can hate their country so much that they risk their lives to leave.
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Prof Mohamed Kouidri of the Faculty of Science at Oran University offers some insights. "The harraga phenomenon is symptomatic of the social and cultural evolution of Algerian youth," he says, adding that with no hope at home, many see leaving the country as the only way out.
Economist Farouk Zahi expressed similar views. Writing in Le Quotidien d'Oran he said, "These youngsters feel deprived of opportunities to make something of themselves and, therefore, have a lot of unsatisfied expectations."
Meanwhile, Hasna Yacoub, who wrote a series on harragas in La Tribune, sums up the issue thus: "Anxiety, solitude, despair and loss of hope lead to the paradoxical situation."
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