- Title: FRANCE: Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner condemns Algeria blasts
- Date: 12th December 2007
- Summary: (W3) PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 11, 2007) (REUTERS) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER BERNARD KOUCHNER WALKING TOWARDS PODIUM AT MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (French) BERNARD KOUCHNER, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: "Two bombs, around 09h00, in two different areas, one struck a bus in the Ben Aknoun district and a second one in the Hydra district. One of the bombs hit the United Nations building, which reminded us of other atrocious events. The President of the French Republic immediately phoned the president of the Algerian Republic. The death toll is not yet established, I hear dozens died. Whatever the numbers, I would like to condemn with as much horror as with firmness, with as much fighting spirit as of compassion, this barbarity. We were in Algeria a few days ago and we evoked more than once the common battle France and Algeria have against terrorism. We talked about it with president Bouteflika. Algerian services and French services are working together." PHOTOGRAPHER AT NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 27th December 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA9WP4Y336Y0WB2E579713QXDPC
- Story Text: French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner denounces Terrorism after two bomb blasts kill more than 60 people in the Algerian capital.
Story: At least 67 people were killed when two car bombs exploded in upscale districts of Algiers on Tuesday(December 11)in the bloodiest attack since the 1990s on the capital of the OPEC member state.
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner condemned the blasts:
"Two bombs around 09h00 in two different areas, one hit a bus in the Ben Aknoun district and a second one in the Hydra district. One of the bombs hit the United Nations building, which reminded us of other atrocious events. The President of the French Republic immediately phoned the president of the Algerian Republic. The death toll is not yet established, I hear dozens died. Whatever the numbers, I would like to condemn with as much horror as with firmness, with as much fighting spirit as of compassion, this barbarity.
We were in Algeria a few days ago and we evoked more than once the common battle France and Algeria have against terrorism. We talked about it with president Bouteflika. Algerian services and French services are working together." Kouchner told reporters.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Algiers only last week, called the blasts "barbaric and profoundly cowardly acts".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but commentators said it appeared the work of al Qaeda's north Africa wing, which claimed a similar bombing in downtown Algiers in April and other blasts east of the capital over the summer that have worried foreign investors.
One of Tuesday's blasts struck near the Constitutional Court building in Ben Aknoun district and the other close to the U.N. offices and a police station in Hydra, both areas where several Western companies have their offices, a source said.
Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said a suicide attacker appeared to have detonated the Hydra bomb.
In Ben Aknoun people ran through the streets crying in panic and the wail of police sirens filled the air.
Several of the casualties in Ben Aknoun were students riding a school bus, the official APS news agency said.
Algeria, a major gas supplier to Europe, is recovering from more than a decade of violence that began in 1992 when the then army-backed government scrapped elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win. Up to 200,000 people have been killed in the subsequent violence.
The violence has subsided since then but a string of attacks this year including the April 11 attack that killed 33 in Algiers has raised fears the country could slip back into the turmoil of the 1990s.
Some attacks or attempted attacks have occurred on the 11th of the month in what Algerians interpret as a form of homage to the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Western nations have expressed concern at militant islamist activity through the north African region and dependants of several western firms operating in Algeria have been repatriated over the past 12 months due to security worries.
Tuesday's attacks dented security forces' hopes that they had crushed the insurgency following the killing by the army of the ringleaders of the April 11 attacks.
Washington condemned the attacks and said it would continue counter-terror collaboration with Algeria.
To date the authorities have said the only way to put an end to 16 years of bloodshed is to pursue "national reconciliation", a policy which grants amnesty to the al Qaeda-linked guerrillas in return for disarmament.
But commentators say the strategy takes no account of a bleak social background of unemployment and poverty that fuels discontent and aids recruitment of suicide bombers.
A deteriorating social climate marked by joblessness and abiding poverty posed a menace to stability, diplomats say, noting that unemployment among adults under 30 is 70 percent. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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