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 (2010 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) note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government;
• a November 2008 constitutional amendment separated the position of head of government from that of the prime minister

head of government:

President Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA (since 28 April 1999)

cabinet:

Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

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

election results:

• Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA was reelected president for a 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 [Ahmed ABDESLAM] (formerly MRN);
• 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

name:

"Kassaman" (We Pledge)

lyrics/music:

Mufdi ZAKARIAH/Mohamed FAWZI

note: adopted 1962; ZAKARIAH wrote "Kassaman" as a poem while imprisoned in Algiers by French colonial forces

agriculture:

14%

industry:

13.4%

construction and public works:

10%

trade:

14.6%

government:

32%

other:

16% (2003 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.8%

highest 10%:

26.8% (1995)

general assessment:

• 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

domestic:

• a limited network of fixed lines with a teledensity of less than 10 telephones per 100 persons is offset by the rapid increase in mobile-cellular subscribership;
• in 2009, combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity was roughly 100 telephones per 100 persons

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) (2009)

• state-run Radio-Television Algerienne operates the broadcast media and carries programming in Arabic, Berber dialects, and French;
• use of satellite dishes is widespread, providing easy access to European and Arab satellite stations;
• state-run radio operates several national networks and roughly 40 regional radio stations (2007)

• condensate 1,937 km;
• gas 14,648 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 2,933 km;
• oil 7,579 km (2009)

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: 39

paved:

76,028 km (includes 645 km of expressways)

unpaved:

32,274 km (2004)

males age 16-49:

10,113,472

females age 16-49:

9,959,693 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

8,481,036

females age 16-49:

8,508,245 (2010 est.)

male:

365,503

female:

352,009 (2010 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;
• criminal networks of sub-Saharan nationals in southern Algeria facilitate transit by arranging transportation, forged documents, and promises of employment

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - Algeria is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List because it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in January 2009, the government approved new legislation that criminalizes trafficking in persons for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation representing an important step toward complying with international standards;
• despite these efforts, the government did not show overall progress in punishing trafficking crimes and protecting trafficking victims and continued to lack adequate measures to protect victims and prevent trafficking (2009)