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

noun:

Algerian(s)

adjective:

Algerian

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 (2011 est.)

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 several times

• mixed legal system of French civil law and Islamic law;
• judicial review of legislative acts in ad hoc Constitutional Council composed of various public officials including several Supreme Court justices

chief of state:

President Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA (since 28 April 1999)

head of government:

Prime Minister Abdelmakek SELLAL (since 3 September 2012)

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 (no term limits); election last held on 9 April 2009 (next to be held in April 2014)

election results:

• Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA 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%

• Supreme Court (or High Court) regulates activities of courts and tribunals;
• Council of State regulates body of activities of the administrative jurisdictions;
• Tribunal of Conflicts settles conflicts between the Supreme Court and the Tribunal of Conflicts

• Algerian Popular Movement or MPA;
• Front for Change or FC;
• Front for Justice and Development or El Adala;
• Green Algeria Alliance or AAV (includes Movement for National Reform, Islamic Renaissance Movement, and Movement of the Society of Peace or Hamas);
• Movement of the Society of Peace or MSP [Boudjerra SOLTANI];
• National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National Democratique) or RND [Ahmed OUYAHIA];
• National Liberation Front or FLN [Abdelaziz BELKHADEM, secretary general];
• National Party for Solidarity and Development or PNSD;
• National Reform Movement or Islah [Ahmed ABDESLAM];
• New Dawn Party or PFJ;
• Oath of 54 or Ahd 54 [Ali Fauzi REBAINE];
• Rally for Culture and Democracy or RCD [Said SADI];
• Islamic Renaissance Movement or EnNahda Movement [Fatah RABEI];
• Socialist Forces Front or FFS [Hocine AIT AHMED];
• 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 Henry S. ENSHER

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 has been offset by the rapid increase in mobile-cellular subscribership;
• in 2011, 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 2,600 km;
• gas 16,360 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 3,447 km;
• oil 7,611 km;
• refined products 144 km (2010)

total:

3,973 km

country comparison to the world: 44

standard gauge:

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

narrow gauge:

1,085 km 1.055-m gauge (2008)

total:

113,655 km

country comparison to the world: 39

paved:

87,605 km (includes 645 km of expressways)

unpaved:

26,050 km (2010)

males age 16-49:

10,273,129

females age 16-49:

10,114,552 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

8,622,897

females age 16-49:

8,626,222 (2010 est.)

male:

342,895

female:

330,098 (2010 est.)

• Algeria and many other states reject 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;
• dormant disputes include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria and the National Liberation Front's (FLN) 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); 30,000 (Mali) (2010)

IDPs:

undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2012)

current situation:

• Algeria is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination and source country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• criminal networks which sometimes extend to sub-Saharan Africa and to Europe are involved in both smuggling and human trafficking

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - the Government of Algeria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• the government made no discernible effort to enforce its 2009 anti-trafficking law;
• it also failed to identify and protect trafficking victims and continued to lack adequate measures to protect victims and prevent trafficking (2012)