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P 260843Z NOV 07
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RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001704 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI AG
SUBJECT: THE HARRAGA - NOT JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Over the past year, the problem of "harraga" -- 
desperate young Algerians setting out for Spain and Italy on 
makeshift boats -- has grown notably worse.  The phenomenon 
is no longer limited to underprivileged youth, but now 
includes older and wealthier individuals otherwise able to 
support themselves and their families.  The trend indicates a 
loss of faith in the political and economic system, which 
both has troubling implications for voter participation in 
the upcoming November 29 local elections and suggests a 
potential for the growing disenchantment to spill into 
protests and other more violent forms of behavior.  The 
government has acknowledged the urgent need for a plan to 
engage Algerian youth, and President Bouteflika has tasked 
all ministers and governors to come up with an agenda.  So 
far, the talk has not been matched by concrete action, and 
the tide of harraga continues.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WHY "HARRAGA"? 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  Starting in 2004 harraga became a part of the Algerian 
cultural landscape, featured in popular song and increasingly 
frequent press reports, especially as many of the youth who 
set off to reach Europe in their makeshift boats perish at 
sea.  The term "harraga" -- "one who burns" in Algerian 
Arabic dialect -- refers to the common practice of the 
would-be emigrants to burn their identification papers before 
embarking to impede the police identifying and repatriating 
them.  A more recent interpretation for the "harraga" name 
holds that the desperation has become so great that people 
are willing to "burn" their lives in order to escape from 
Algeria.  One popular harraga motto is "better to be eaten by 
the fishes than by the worms at home." 
 
A "SUICIDE MENTALITY" DEVELOPS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  Accurate harraga statistics are hard to find, but 
anecdotal evidence and press reports reveal a growing 
problem.  In October, Mohammed Khoudri, minister in charge of 
relations with parliament, released some official figures on 
the harraga problem.  He claimed that between January and 
August 2007, 1100 harraga had been arrested, 371 by the 
security forces and 918 by the coast guard.  Sociologist 
Nacer Djabi views the harraga problem as a symptom of a 
larger disease -- the emergence of a "suicide attitude" in 
the Maghreb, but especially in Algeria.  "A harraga or a 
kamikaze (suicide bomber)," said Djabi, "both have the same 
objective: to get rid of the reality that surrounds them." 
 
A NEW BREED OF HARRAGA 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.  In June 2007 the ocean liner Tarik Ibn Zyad bound for 
Marseilles became a rescue ship when the captain came across 
22 Algerians stranded at sea.  The group was significant 
because press reports showed Algerians that the harraga no 
longer fit the stereotype of 18- to 20-year-old unemployed 
males.  Among the June batch of harraga was Djamel, a 
38-year-old civil servant, and a 32-year-old woman.  When 
asked by one of our police contacts why he left the country, 
Djamel responded with the question, "Do you have anything 
else to offer me?"  The story of Fodil Zerga offers another 
new vignette.  Zerga, a relative of an Embassy employee, is 
the son of a successful trader in Oran.  Zerga sold his BMW 
to buy a small motorboat in order to reach Spain with two 
friends.  He had applied twice for a visa to enter Spain or 
France but was denied both times.  Before leaving, Zerga 
blurted out to his family that "you can do nothing in this 
country, even with your own money!"  Zerga and his friends 
are now reportedly in the custody of Spanish authorities 
after being picked up at sea. 
 
SCRAMBLING FOR A RESPONSE 
------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The government has clearly realized the urgency of the 
problem, though it is far less clear that the authorities 
have any ready solution.  On October 24, President Bouteflika 
gave a speech to all cabinet ministers and walis (governors) 
in which he warned of the potential consequences of not 
addressing the harraga problem.  "In these last two years," 
he said, "2400 harraga have been intercepted at sea.  These 
 
ALGIERS 00001704  002 OF 002 
 
 
2400, if added to the kamikazes of Algiers, Lakhdaria, Batna 
and Dellys, could become more numerous if we do not seriously 
address the issue."  (The remarks prompted well-known 
cartoonist Ali Dilem to draw "Algerian youth" as a choice 
between a kamikaze wearing a suicide belt and a harraga 
wearing a life preserver.)  Bouteflika said that although 150 
billion dinars (2.3 billion dollars) had been dedicated to 
the youth and sports sector between 2000 and 2006, each wali 
needed to develop a new "youth strategy" for his/her province 
of the country. 
 
¶6.  In March, the ministry of religious affairs released a 
decree asserting that Islam could not accept among its 
members those who took their fate into their own hands. 
Cheikh Abu Abdessalem, president of the national commission 
on fatwas within the ministry, expounded on radio and 
television that a suicide operation committed by a kamikaze 
was similar to a harraga expedition since, in the end, both 
lives were thrown away. 
 
COMMENT: RICH COUNTRY, POOR PEOPLE 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  The harraga problem, like the larger problem of providing 
opportunity and hope to the youth of Algeria, is only getting 
worse.  Over 70 percent of Algerians are under the age of 30. 
 Former Prime Minister Ahmed Benbitour, in a speech on 
November 15, outlined the tragic paradox when he asked, "Why 
is it that a country as rich as Algeria has nothing to offer 
its children?"  Benbitour went on to say that he believed the 
only way out of the problem was for the regime to change.  In 
the meantime, as oil prices skyrocket and the political and 
economic spheres remain largely stagnant, it appears the 
harraga phenomenon is only likely to worsen. 
FORD