France sends two Canadair to help Algeria fight the flames

Published on : 08/13/2021 – 08:04

To fight against the unprecedented fires which ravage the region of Kabylia, in the north of Algeria, firefighters, soldiers and Algerian volunteers are supported by two water bombers sent by France on Thursday August 12, said in a tweet the French President Emmanuel Macron.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune promised in a televised address Thursday evening that two more Canadairs should arrive from Spain and another from Switzerland.

In a statement, the civil protection reported Thursday of “92 fires in 16 wilayas (prefectures) including 37 in Tizi Ouzou and 15 in El Tarf”, near the Tunisian border. This Thursday marked the first day of national mourning decreed to honor the 71 people who died in these fires intensified by the extreme heat.

This heat wave should continue until the weekend in the Maghreb according to various meteorological services. On Wednesday, Tunisia also recorded an absolute record with a temperature of over 50 degrees (50.3 C) in Kairouan (center). Thirty fires have been recorded since Monday in this country.

Algeria arrests around 20 suspected arsonists

During his televised address Thursday Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the arrest of 22 suspects accused of being arsonists, “including 11 in Tizi Ouzou, a large town in Kabylia, a Berber-speaking region in northeastern Algeria, traditionally rebellious in the against the central power.

The Head of State accused the Kabyle separatists without naming them of wanting to exploit the disaster to divide the country. According to Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the majority of fires are “of criminal origin”. “Some fires were caused by high temperatures but criminal hands are behind most of them,” said the Algerian president.

Beyond official international aid, faced with the scale of the disaster, calls for help have multiplied from the start in civil society, in Algeria and within the Algerian diaspora. NGOs are active, in particular in France – where there are many human links with the southern shore of the Mediterranean – to send material to the affected areas through local organizations.

>> To read: #Algeriaisburning: in Algeria, civil society is organizing to fight against fires

In the country itself, “individuals and associations are mobilizing, relentlessly, by organizing collections of clothing, food, drugs,” writes the TSA information site.

With AFP