First meeting between O'Yahya, Tansiqiyat al-Oroush fails
The first meeting which included the Algerian prime minister, Ahmad O'Yahya, with the Berber delegation representing, Ransiqiyat al-Oroush, failed yesterday without any worthy results. This is, however, after the two sides failed to reach a solution for the problem of desolving the municipal councils of October 2002.
The meeting which started on Saturday was held in secret atmospheres. The Algerian radio said that the Tansiqiyat al-Oroush delegation refused to make any statement when it left the premises of the government, before relaying the results of its talks to the province which authorized it to convene this first meeting with the government, since the beginning of the crisis in al-Qabayel area in April 2001.
The radio said that a second meeting will be held today, to continue discussions on the point of strong difference. Tansiqiyat al-Oroush demands the government to stop judicial pursuits, and give tax pardons to the traders of the area, as a precondition to resume negotiations with it. Tansiqiyat al- Oroush considered that all these matters are the consequences of the crisis, resulted from the confrontations that took place in 2001, and resulted in killing 100 persons and wounding of thousands.
By the beginning of December 2003, O'Yahya called on Tansiqiyat al- Oroush for dialogue to discuss the implementation of al-Qaser list which was approved on June 11, 2002 in al-Qaser town near Bajaya, 260 Km to the east of Algiers, which is composed of 15 non-negotiable points, including demands of Tansiqiyat al-Oroush, which seeks to get recognition of the Berber cultural identity, and a plan for revival and economic reforms in al-Qabayel area.
The current Tansiqiyat al-Oroush delegation which includes 11 representatives, does not include the movement's leading figure, Baleed Abrika, the representative for Teizi Ozo and Ali Gharbi for al-Qaser.
Two previous meetings between the governments, which was then presided by Ali Benflis, and representatives for Tansiqiyat al-Oroush, were held but not authorized by the province, and did not have results.