Algeria: anger among Ain Saleh’s people over gas companies
Ech-Chorouk, on Tuesday, June 20, 2007
Employment offers of national and foreign companies in the region of Ain Saleh in Tamnrasset (southern Algiers) have provoked anger among jobless people who protest against injustice in terms of employment conditions.
They feel that they are marginalised and threaten to use violence if the employment issue is still managed in non-transparent and unfair ways.
Riots sparked on April 27th 2002 in Ain Saleh, the biggest gas area in Algeria because of unemployment.
Dozens of jobless young people took to the streets and protested against the manpower bureau that is responsible for passing employment offers coming from national and foreign companies.
Protesters burnt public facilities and destroyed the town of Ain Saleh in few hours. These riots led to create a local agency for employment in 2004.
People in Ain Saleh suffer from unemployment although this region is rich of natural gas.
The number of jobless people registered in the local agency is estimated at more than 3500 in addition to 100 new job applications per month.
According to officials in the employment local agency, the problem of employment is caused by the “severe” conditions required by companies especially the foreign ones to hire employees such as diplomas and experience.
On the other hand, the employment local agency does not respect the deadline fixed by the companies; that’s why, they hire workers from any where in Algeria, according to an official in the local agency.
