Algeria, Kabylie, agree to quit illegal parliamentarians

The Algerian government agreed with Tansiqeyat al-Oroush, which includes major berber tribes in Kabylie area, to remove illegally elected persons who won the legislative and municipal elections.

The agreement came after Tansiqeyat al-Oroush persisted to reject results of the legislative and municipal elections which were held in Algeria in May and October 2002, and used to obstruct peace negotiations in Kabylie area.

A government's official announced that the agreement signed on Thursday following a long meeting in Algiers lasted more than 13 hours, in which the government confirmed that actual resignation was made as from December 2003, noting that it is committed to take all necessary measures with sides concerned to be reflected in atmospheres of calmness and within an acceptable period of time."

The government and the Tansiqeyat resumed negotiations since the beginning of this month, but were obstructed because of the issue of the resignation of the parliamentarians in Kabylie area. Five out of six demands raised by the Tensiqeyat al-Oroush while the sixth demand on solving the municipal and district council was discussed on Wednesday and Thursday.

The agreement on the 6th point will be conducive to joining negotiations concerning "al-Qaser memorandum." This document which was ratified by the protest movement on June 11 2001 in al-Qaser city, includes 15 demands, Tansiqeyat al-Oroush said they are not negotiable, the main of which are recognizing the Amghazi identity and embarking on a reform plan and attaining economic progress in this rangeland poor area.