Algeria

• arid to semiarid;
• mild, wet winters with hot, dry summers along coast;
• drier with cold winters and hot summers on high plateau;
• sirocco is a hot, dust/sand-laden wind especially common in summer

• mostly high plateau and desert;
• some mountains;
• narrow, discontinuous coastal plain

total:

6.07 cu km/yr (22%/13%/65%)

per capita:

185 cu m/yr (2000)

• soil erosion from overgrazing and other poor farming practices;
• desertification;
• dumping of raw sewage, petroleum refining wastes, and other industrial effluents is leading to the pollution of rivers and coastal waters;
• Mediterranean Sea, in particular, becoming polluted from oil wastes, soil erosion, and fertilizer runoff;
• inadequate supplies of potable water

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.86 male(s)/female

total population:

1.01 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

noun:

Algerian(s)

adjective:

Algerian

conventional long form:

People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

conventional short form:

Algeria

local long form:

Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza'iriyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Sha'biyah

local short form:

Al Jaza'ir

name:

Algiers

geographic coordinates:

36 45 N, 3 03 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

• 8 September 1963;
• revised 19 November 1976;
• effective 22 November 1976;
• revised 3 November 1988, 23 February 1989, 28 November 1996, 10 April 2002, and 12 November 2008

• socialist, based on French and Islamic law;
• judicial review of legislative acts in ad hoc Constitutional Council composed of various public officials including several Supreme Court justices;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

chief of state:

President Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA (since 28 April 1999)

head of government:

Prime Minister Ahmed OUYAHIA (since 23 June 2008)

cabinet:

Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
• note - a November 2008 constitutional amendment abolished presidential term limits;
• election last held 9 April 2009 (next to be held in April 2014);
• prime minister appointed by the president

election results:

• Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA reelected president for third term;
• percent of vote - Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA 90.2%, Louisa HANOUNE 4.2%, Moussa TOUATI 2.3%, Djahid YOUNSI 1.4%, Ali Fawzi REBIANE less than 1%, Mohamed SAID less than 1%

• Ahd 54 [Ali Fauzi REBAINE];
• Algerian National Front or FNA [Moussa TOUATI];
• National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National Democratique) or RND [Ahmed OUYAHIA];
• National Liberation Front or FLN [Abdelaziz BELKHADEM, secretary general];
• National Reform Movement or Islah (formerly MRN) [Ahmed ABDESLAM];
• Rally for Culture and Democracy or RCD [Said SADI];
• Renaissance Movement or EnNahda Movement [Fatah RABEI];
• Socialist Forces Front or FFS [Hocine Ait AHMED];
• Society of Peace Movement or MSP [Boudjerra SOLTANI];
• Workers Party or PT [Louisa HANOUNE]

note: a law banning political parties based on religion was enacted in March 1997

chief of mission:

Ambassador Abdallah BAALI

chancery:

2118 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 265-2800

FAX:

[1] (202) 667-2174

chief of mission:

Ambassador David D. PEARCE

embassy:

05 Chemin Cheikh Bachir, El-Ibrahimi, El-Biar 16000 Algiers

mailing address:

B. P. 408, Alger-Gare, 16030 Algiers

telephone:

[213] 770-08-2000

FAX:

[213] 21-60-7355

• two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and white;
• a red, five-pointed star within a red crescent centered over the two-color boundary;
• the colors represent Islam (green), purity and peace (white), and liberty (red);
• the crescent and star are also Islamic symbols, but the crescent is more closed than those of other Muslim countries because the Algerians believe the long crescent horns bring happiness

lowest 10%:

2.8%

highest 10%:

26.8% (1995)

general assessment:

• a weak network of fixed-main lines, which remains at roughly 10 telephones per 100 persons, is offset by the rapid increase in mobile cellular subscribership;
• in 2008, combined fixed-line and mobile telephone density surpassed 100 telephones per 100 persons

domestic:

• privatization of Algeria's telecommunications sector began in 2000;
• three mobile cellular licenses have been issued and, in 2005, a consortium led by Egypt's Orascom Telecom won a 15-year license to build and operate a fixed-line network in Algeria;
• the license will allow Orascom to develop high-speed data and other specialized services and contribute to meeting the large unfulfilled demand for basic residential telephony;
• Internet broadband services began in 2003

international:

• country code - 213;
• landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia;
• microwave radio relay to Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia;
• coaxial cable to Morocco and Tunisia;
• participant in Medarabtel;
• satellite earth stations - 51 (Intelsat, Intersputnik, and Arabsat) (2008)

• condensate 1,937 km;
• gas 14,648 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 2,933 km;
• oil 7,579 km (2008)

total:

3,973 km

country comparison to the world: 43

standard gauge:

2,888 km 1.435-m gauge (283 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

1,085 km 1.055-m gauge (2008)

total:

108,302 km

country comparison to the world: 38

paved:

76,028 km (includes 645 km of expressways)

unpaved:

32,274 km (2004)

males age 16-49:

9,736,757

females age 16-49:

9,590,978 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

8,317,473

females age 16-49:

8,367,005 (2009 est.)

male:

375,852

female:

362,158 (2009 est.)

• Algeria, and many other states, rejects Moroccan administration of Western Sahara;
• the Polisario Front, exiled in Algeria, represents the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic;
• Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation accusing the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling;
• Algeria remains concerned about armed bandits operating throughout the Sahel who sometimes destabilize southern Algerian towns;
• dormant disputes include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria and the FLN's assertions of a claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco

refugees (country of origin):

90,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf)

IDPs:

undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2007)

current situation:

• Algeria is a transit country for men and women trafficked from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude;
• Algerian children are trafficked internally for the purpose of domestic servitude or street vending

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - Algeria did not report any serious law enforcement actions to punish traffickers who force women into commercial sexual exploitation or men into involuntary servitude in 2007;
• the government again reported no investigations of trafficking of children for domestic servitude or improvements in protection services available to victims of trafficking;
• Algeria still lacks victim protection services, and its failure to distinguish between trafficking and illegal migration may result in the punishment of victims of trafficking (2008)