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Algeria: the diaspora on the front line in the face of fires and the health crisis

2021-08-12T18:29:35.614Z


The Algerian community in France is mobilizing to send humanitarian aid to their compatriots who are victims of the fires in Algeria. A jackpot even raised more than 600,000 euros.


Faced with the double health disaster and forest fires, the Algerian diaspora in France is on the front line to organize the collection and delivery of emergency aid, a massive mobilization of civil society.

Read also: Morocco ready to help Algeria to cope with the fires

"

I brought back 56 boxes of surgical masks, 20 boxes of Biafine, 20 boxes of betadine, about fifty boxes of Doliprane, about fifty ventoline and as many Gaviscon

", lists Souad, 35, a school teacher, who turned presented Thursday, with his devil loaded with packages, at the Argenteuil Mosque, near Paris, which lent its premises to four associations.

A massive surge of solidarity in France

In the 1,000 square meter warehouse, hundreds of boxes are now waiting to be shipped to Algeria.

The too many donations end up being distributed to other collection points.

Across France, the outpouring of solidarity from the Algerian diaspora relayed massively on social networks is unprecedented since the great Algiers earthquake in 2003, according to associations.

Read also: Algiers excludes any recourse to the IMF despite the economic difficulties

"

The regime had nothing planned, it is outdated and it is the civil society which is organized, first on the spot then in connection with the diaspora via a network of partner associations

", explains Samir Yahyiaoui, figure of Algerian civil society.

"

It is an unprecedented mobilization, because beyond the obvious humanitarian aspect, it has a political background, it is the indirect and undeniable extension of Hirak

", wants to believe one of the relays in France of the protest movement popular Algerian.

For several weeks, Algeria has been facing a double crisis: an epidemic outbreak of the Delta variant and the worrying spread of forest fires in the northeast of the country, on the heights of Kabylia, in which 69 people have already died. .

"

I am shocked and devastated that the government has still not called for international aid or even reassured the people, and admitted a catastrophe,

" Faïza Menaï, representative of the Debout l'Algérie collective, told AFP.

Algeria wants to keep control

While the management of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is to address the nation on Thursday evening, is the subject of increasingly sharp criticism within the Algerian diaspora, the Algerian government's counter-offensive to regain control over this momentum of "

the national community established in France

" was not long in coming.

On August 6, in the midst of a health crisis, the Algerian embassy in France thus demanded in a press release that the initiators of collections take "a

link with the consular representations

", in order to be issued an "

authorization

" to send the drug. material assistance to “

the one and only

authorized

recipient

”, namely the “

Central Pharmacy

” of the Algerian Ministry of Health. The embassy also stipulates that the missions of reinforcement of caregivers, fall only under the "

exclusive responsibility

" of the Ministry of Health responsible for organizing their arrival and their deployment.

At the peak of the mobilization, this tightening of the screws was perceived as "

sabotage

", notes Halima Menhoudj, deputy mayor of Montreuil, in the inner Paris suburbs, who opened a pot to "

contribute to the momentum of solidarity

" and “

add a modest touch

”.

It's still crazy that the embassy did not ask for a dialogue, to receive a delegation that would somewhat represent the diaspora in France, in order to be able to coordinate solidarity actions.

It is done in an authoritarian way, without dialogue, without discussion,

”laments the elected official.

A fundraising collects 620,000 euros

Faced with this outcry, the government ended up giving up the centralization of humanitarian aid and authorizing, under conditions, the sending of aid between associations.

The Algerian embassy has also decided to launch its own fundraising, via the issuance of a RIB in “

dedicated currencies

”.

Because on the side of civil society, some collections have reached impressive amounts.

Thus, in a few weeks, the kitty launched on the internet by Merouane Messekher, a young intern in pulmonology at the Toulouse University Hospital for the emergency shipment of oxygen therapy equipment has reached more than 620,000 euros.

Under cover of the “

Medical Hope

” association, which the young doctor founded to support and train his colleagues in Algeria, the Algerian authorities in France even facilitated transport and accepted direct distribution to relay associations in Algeria.

Football stars, from Franck Ribéry to Franco-Algerian striker Nabil Fekir, have also played a decisive role in relaying these calls to their millions of fans.

Beyond the differences, the folk singer Souad Massi launched on Facebook a vibrant appeal for "

solidarity

" and "

unity

": "

Together we will live, together we will overcome

".

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-08-12

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