This article may relate to a different subject or has undue weight on an aspect of the subject.Specifically, the lynching of Djamel Bensmail.(September 2021) |
2021 Algeria wildfires | |
---|---|
Date(s) | June – October 2021 |
Location | Kabylia region, Algeria |
Impacts | |
Deaths | 90 (57 civilians and 33 soldiers) |
Ignition | |
Cause | Unknown |
Perpetrator(s) | Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (per Algerian authorities) [1] |
The 2021 Algeria wildfires were multiple wildfires that happened in the Kabylia region of Algeria since 9 August 2021, which have killed 90 people, [2] including 57 civilians and 33 soldiers. The soldiers died after being trapped in the blaze during rescue operations. [3] [4] [5] [6]
On 9 August, many fires started up in the Kabylia region and elsewhere, and Algerian authorities sent soldiers to help citizens with the blazes and evacuations.
On 10 August, multiple fires burned Mediterranean trees, destroying olive trees and killing cattle and chickens. Many distant villages have very limited water. Some villagers fled, while others tried to hold back the flames themselves, using buckets, branches and rudimentary tools, due to the unavailability of firefighting aircraft.
On 12 August, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a live speech on state television that "criminal hands were behind most" of the fires and that 22 people have been arrested. [7]
After 7 days following the appearance of the wildfires, Civil Protection units have successfully extinguished 41 forest fires in nine provinces in the past 24 hours, [8] and complete extinction of fires in Annaba was reported. [9]
On 17 August, all forest fires in Jijel and Sétif were extinguished. [10] [11]
On 18 August, the President's Office said that "ultimate responsibility" for fires lay with the Islamist Rachad group and MAK, an ethnopolitical autonomy organization that aims to split the ethnic Berber region of Kabyle from the rest of Algeria, with "support and help from foreign parties, particularly Morocco and the Zionist entity", referring to Israel. [12] [13] [14]
The 2021 Algerian-Israeli naval incident took place during these wildfires on 27 September. [15]
A report from Sonelgaz revealed that a total of 610 km (380 mi) of electricity network and no less than 710 stations were destroyed by fires in Tizi Ouzou Province. [16] The Local Direction of Agricultural Services (DSA) reported that 5,193 hectares of fruit trees and 19,178 farm animals were burned. [17] Engineers from the Technical Construction Control body (CTC) appraised 1,705 homes damaged by the fires. [18]
In May 2022, the Algerian Directorate General of Forests (DGF) reported that over 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of vegetation were affected by fires in the summer of 2021, with 1,631 fire outbreaks recorded across 21 wilayas. [19] The breakdown of the affected areas is as follows:
This section needs to be updated.(July 2024) |
Djamel Ben Ismail, an artist and social activist from Miliana, was brutally killed by a mob days after the fires began in Tizi Ouzou. He was initially accused of arson without substantiation.
A video showing the assault against Ben Ismail went viral online, showing his final minutes as he was burned alive and killed for his alleged role. However, social media users identified him as a prominent artist who was present in the area to help residents put out the fires. [20] [21] [22]
In the video, Ben Ismail was pleading with the mob, repetitively insisting that he had no role in the wildfires. Several members of the group were shouting racist and insulting slang at the victim, such as sale arabe, which is French for dirty Arab. It is believed that several members of this mob appearing in the footage are affiliated with the MAK, an organization accused by Algerian authorities as having separatist aims and an anti-Arab sentiment. [23] Due to this,[ how? ] it is strongly believed[ by whom? ] that Ben Ismail was in fact guiltless.[ citation needed ]
The Directorate General for National Security (DGSN) affirmed the arrest of 36 suspects, including 3 women, involved in Ben Ismail's assassination and lynching in Larbaâ Nath Irathen, Tizi Ouzou. [24] On 17 August, the DGSN released a video including confessions from new suspects arrested in connection with the case. [25] The criminal court of Dar El Beida sentenced 49 people to death for the homicide and mutilation of Ben Ismail. [26]
As the tenth-largest country in the world, and the largest in Africa and in the Mediterranean region, Algeria has a vast transportation system that includes a large and diverse transportation infrastructure. Ansel is a transport company in Algera. Ansel mainly uses buses and trains. Ansel also transports to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Kabylia or Kabylie is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the Tell Atlas mountain range and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
Dellys is a small Mediterranean town in northern Algeria's coastal Boumerdès Province, almost due north of Tizi-Ouzou and just east of the Sebaou River. It is the district seat of the daïra of Dellys. The town is 45 km from Tizi Ouzou, 50 km from Boumerdes, and about 100 km from the capital Algiers.
Ferhat Mehenni is an Algerian separatist, political activist, singer, and founder and first President of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK). He has been President of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia since June 1, 2010.
The Berber Spring was a period of political protest and civil activism in 1980, claiming recognition of the Berber identity and language in Algeria, with events mainly taking place in Kabylia and Algiers.
Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie, known as JS Kabylie or JSK, is an Algerian professional football club based in Tizi Ouzou, Kabylia. The club is named after the cultural, natural and historical region that is home to the Kabyle Berber people speaking Kabyle. The club was founded in 1946 and its colours are yellow and green. Their current home stadium, Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium, has a capacity of 50,766 spectators. The club currently plays in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1.
Mouloud Mammeri was an Algerian writer, anthropologist and linguist.
The Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie, officially named the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie before 3 October 2013, is a Kabyle nationalist and separatist political organization seeking autonomy, self-determination rights of the Kabyle people, and ultimately independence of the Kabylie region from Algeria. It was founded by the Kabyle Berberist Ferhat Mehenni, now president of the Provisional Government of Kabylie in exile, after the "Black Spring" disturbances in 2001.
An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.
The National Rail Transportation Company is Algeria's national railway operator. The SNTF, a state-owned company, currently has a monopoly over Algeria's rail network of 3,973 km (2,469 mi), although it is currently utilising only 3,572 km (2,220 mi). Out of the total railway network, 2,888 km (1,795 mi) are 1,435 mmstandard gauge and 1,085 km (674 mi) are 1,055 mm narrow gauge.
A major wildfire occurred from 19 August 1949 to 25 August 1949 in the Landes forest in France. 50,000 hectares (500 km2) of forest land were burnt - and 82 people killed. It was considered the most deadly forest fire in Europe until the 2007 wildfires and the 2018 wildfires occurred in Greece, which killed 84 and 99 people, respectively. Since both events in Greece can be distinguished as multiple fire events, the Landes fire still ranks as the deadliest wildfire in Europe since record-keeping began. The municipalities of Cestas, Saucats, Marcheprime and Mios in the Gironde department were devastated by the forest fire. The very high dead toll from the fire shocked the country – and marked the starting point for the construction of the “Défense de la forêt contre les incendies” System.
ATM Mobilis or simply Mobilis, a subsidiary of Groupe Télécom Algérie, is the first and one of the three major mobile operators in Algeria. It became independent in August 2003.
The group stage of the 2007 CAF Champions League was played from 22 July to 2 September 2007. A total of eight teams competed in the group stage, the group winners and runners-up advance to the Knockout stage playing semifinal rounds before the final.
A megafire is an exceptional fire that devastates a large area. They are characterised by their intensity, size, duration and uncontrollable scale. There is no precise scientific definition.
Many bombings were committed during the Algerian Civil War that began in 1991. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) claimed responsibility for many of them, while for others no group has claimed responsibility. These terrorist incidents generated a widespread sense of fear in Algeria. The number of bombings peaked in 2007, with a smaller peak in 2002, and they were particularly concentrated in the areas between Algiers and Tizi Ouzou, with very few occurring in the east or in the Sahara.
In June through August 2022, parts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa were affected by wildfires. The bulk of the fires affected Mediterranean Countries, with the main areas affected being Algeria, France, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
Brahim Merad is the Algerian Minister of Interior and Local Government. He was appointed as minister on 9 September 2022.
The murder of Djamel Ben Ismail took place on 11 August 2021 in the town of Larbaâ Nath Irathen, in the region of Kabylia, Algeria, following his lynching by a mob who falsely accused him of lighting deadly wildfires during the 2021 Algeria wildfires crisis.
Lake Akfadou, also known as Black Lake, is situated within the Djurdjura Mountains, within the boundaries of the Djurdjura National Park. It is located between the Algerian provinces of Tizi Ouzou and Béjaïa.