Le Occidental Doron: Hussein Ayat Ahmad accuses Mafia of destabilizing Berber area

The opposition Algerian leader Hussein Ayat Ahmad who leads the front of the socialist forces, one of the two main Berber parties said in an interview issued on Saturday that "the Mafia" wants to explode al-Qabayel area which has been witnessing unrest for more than one year.

By the beginning of August, the Socialist Forces front announced participation in the local elections which are due on October 10.

Ayat Ahmad who lives in Luzanne, Switzerland said in an interview with the Algerian "Le Occidental Doron" that among the others reasons behind the decision to take part in the local elections is "not to leave a vacuum in the municipalities of al-Qabayel area and to block the way of all sorts of Mafia which seek to bring turmoil to the al-Qabayel region and Algeria as a whole.

Ayat Ahmad, who pulled out his nomination in the last presidential elections for 1999 following allegations that the authorities were planning to forge the results just hours before the voting, said "there is a moral and political duty which makes it imperative on us to protect civilians. The citizens should continue being persistent in order to foil the 'burnt land policy'."