Algeria: price soaring in Ramadan

Red meat: 900 dinars

Boumerdes (Algeria) - The traditional soaring price of meat and vegetables to mark the arrival of Ramadan worried more the Algerians than security, despite the continued attacks by terrorist groups.

•     In Boumerdès (east), an hour's drive from Algiers, "Security is not our main concern," said a couple heading to a cafe on the seafront, on the eve of the fasting month which starts Saturday. "I think especially of the ends of the months, with the coming Ramadan and the cost of the start of the academic year" scheduled for September 13, emphasizes Abdelali, the husband.
  
      Algerians spend a fortune in food for the meal breaking the fast in the evening. And the price of each vegetable and fruit, red meat or white "rise every year at this time of year," he says.
  
      These expenses are not within the reach of all and 1.2 million deprived families will benefit this year from state aid.
  
      Four young people go to the immense beach of the city, where many umbrellas are already occupied. "Security? Funny question. I don’t even think about," says one of them. The others hurry to enjoy the last days before the Ramadan during which they will no longer be able to swim during the day.
  
      The region of Boumerdes, like most in the east of Tizi Ouzou, is classified "red," says a resident, because of numerous attacks against security forces by armed groups from Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi).
  
      Gendarmerie and police are also omnipresent on the main roads with roadblocks, as in the arteries of Boumerdes.
  
      But traffic is still important on roads and coastal resorts are "full" during the summer season.
  
      Until the last days, entire families enjoy their holidays under umbrellas in the beach of Tigzirt, near Tizi Ouzou, where a policeman was killed by a bomb explosion a few days earlier.
  
      Delphine Plan of the force, for each year to ensure the protection, will be left in place, mainly in the evening and throughout the month of Ramadan.
  
      But "there will be no special measures" in the police, because the numbers are used throughout the year, whether during Ramadan considered a "special month” or during the other months”, said recently the Director of National Security Ali Tounsi.
  
      In fact, note the Algerian press, the security forces are permanently engaged in a struggle against Aqmi groups.
  
      Every attack against the security forces is immediately followed by a ground operation, backed by helicopter gunships targeting scrub possible shelters of terrorists after their attacks.
  
      Large areas in regions including Batna, Tizi Ouzou and Bouira (100 and 120 km east of Algiers), Tipaza and the department nearby Ain Defla are always searched after the attack on military convoy one of which has caused at least eleven dead near Tipaza, a famous seaside town.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.