Northern Algeria comes to terms with violent forest fires

Published on : 08/18/2021 – 5:55 PMModified : 08/18/2021 – 17:56

“No forest fire was recorded” announced Wednesday, August 18, the Algerian Civil Protection in a statement. The fires that ravaged northern Algeria for more than a week and killed at least 90 people have been extinguished.

The remaining seven homes were neutralized by Civil Protection teams in six wilayas (prefectures), according to the press release.

The gigantic fires, which began on August 9, destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of forests in 26 of Algeria’s 58 wilayas. Among the victims, at least 90, there are 33 soldiers, according to various reports from local authorities and the Ministry of Defense.

Wave of solidarity

To fight the flames, the Algerian army mobilized five Russian Mi-26 helicopters and the Civil Protection, three water bomber helicopters.

The authorities were also able to count on the reinforcement of two French water bombers, made available via the European Union, and another Spanish aircraft.

Faced with the scale of the disaster and their lack of anticipation and prevention, Algiers bought four Russian Beriev-200 water bomber planes.

The disasters sparked a wave of solidarity across Algeria and within the diaspora.

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Fires of “criminal” origin

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said most of the fires were of “criminal” origin and indicated the arrest of 22 suspects.

But beyond the human and material losses, and the shortcomings of the public authorities highlighted during these fires, Algeria was deeply shocked by the lynching and immolation of a man wrongly accused of pyromania in Kabylia, the region most affected by fires.

Sixty-one suspects were arrested following the death of Djamel Ben Ismaïl, according to Algerian police who implicitly accused the Kabyle independence movement of being involved in the murder of the young man and the fires.

>> Algeria: accused of trying to start a fire, a young lynch to death in Kabylia

Kabyle separatists demand an “international investigation”

In question, the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK, independence), an organization classified as “terrorist” in Algeria, rejected these accusations and called, Wednesday, for an international investigation.

“We are asking for an international investigation both on this young man who was set on fire and on the fires,” Aksel Ameziane, spokesperson for “Anavad” or “Kabyle provisional government”, an association founded by the MAK.

The largest country in Africa, Algeria has only 4.1 million hectares of forests, with a meager reforestation rate of 1.76%.

Every year, the north of the country is affected by forest fires, but this phenomenon is accentuated. A warming climate increases the likelihood of heat waves and droughts, and in turn, fires. In 2020, nearly 44,000 hectares went up in smoke, a figure that should be greatly exceeded in 2021.

With AFP