Brussels, 07/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - So what about Algeria? “The southern shore of the Mediterranean is facing unprecedented popular protest movements”, yet Algeria would seem so far to have been untouched when, throughout the Maghreb, “after the winds of democracy which the Tunisian people blew up”, expectation has been strong everywhere, writes the Greens/EFA Group in its invitation to attend a study day to be held in Strasbourg on 14 December on the initiative of French MEP Malika Benarab-Attou.
“In Morocco, elections have just been held following constitutional reform introduced by the King. In Algeria, silence would seem to enshroud the trauma of the bloody decade that was the 1990s. Constitutional laws are being passed by parliamentarians already in place. Is it possible to talk about transition to democracy in these conditions, even though a general election is scheduled for 2012?” The questions are many. To help clarify the situation, the speakers announced are Salima Ghezali, journalist and writer, Sakharov Prize winner in 1997, Melissa Rahmouni, Head of Sciences Po Monde Arab and co-founder of ArabsThink.com, Abdelouahab Fersaoui, Head of Rassemblement Actions Jeunesse (RAJ) and cartoonist Slim. (FB/transl.rt)