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31 December 2008
An unknown number of people – estimates range between 500,000 and 1.5 million – have been displaced in Algeria since 1992 due to ongoing conflict between insurgent Islamist groups and the government. In particular, large-scale massacres of civilians between 1996 and 1998 by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) forced many Algerians to flee affected areas. Security has improved considerably during recent years, but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged in 2007 with attacks against Western targets and the Algerian security forces. In 2008 low-level armed conflict continued but there were no reports of new displacement.
Because of limited access to displacement-affected areas, no reliable figures are available. The newspaper El Watan suggested there were 500,000 IDPs in 2004; since then there has been no official reference to internal displacement. The Government considers that practically all IDPs have returned.
Although Algeria was affected by large-scale displacement caused by conflict between 1992 and 2002, internally displaced people (IDPs) were not a priority for the government during or after the conflict. As a result, even the most basic information about their number and situation has consistently been unavailable. The European Union estimated at the end of the conflict that violence had displaced one million people, while other sources put the number as high as 1.5 million. The government has not contested these figures.
Furthermore, there is no indication about whether these IDPs have achieved durable solutions. The government has stated that no-one remains displaced, but has not provided information about returns or living conditions in areas of origin. It is likely that most IDPs have remained in the cities they fled to, and mixed with other poor populations there, as access to livelihoods in rural areas has remained very limited. Lack of support, justice, and reparations for IDPs has been the norm. (...)
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29 September 2009