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Algeria denies supporting Kadhafi

By Walid Ramzi and Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers

Accusations that Algeria airlifted mercenaries into Libya are baseless, officials say.
As Algeria evacuates its citizens from strife-torn Libya, the government forcefully responded to accusations that the country was aiding Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

"No Algerian aircraft has ever entered the Libyan airports except for those that were sent by the authorities to extract the Algerian residents in Tripoli and Benghazi," Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said in a February 28th statement.

Ould Kabila blasted reports that Algerian jets were used to transport mercenaries to Libya, saying they were "a plot against Algeria". He added, "Those who claim to have evidence that proves the involvement of Algeria and intend to spread these false allegations, all they have to do is show this evidence."

"I think that the rebuttals of the Algerian authorities have reached the Libyan people, who announced once again their respect for the Algerian authorities and people for their choice and will for change, and I do not think that there is anyone who stands with the authorities against the will of people," the minister said.

Air Algerie also denied using its aircraft to transport African mercenaries to help Colonel Kadhafi. In a press statement to Echourouk, the director of human resources at the company, Othmane Adjrid, firmly disavowed the allegations, saying there was no truth in them whatsoever.

Adjrid said the incorrect satellite television information came from the return of old aircraft that Air Algerie had previously leased from Libya in 1986. He said the planes were returned because they were broken and no longer airworthy.

Algerians flee Libya chaos

Meanwhile, the unrest in Libya has triggered a wave of repatriation of foreign nationals. At least 3,780 Algerians have returned home since February 20th; the vast majority aboard Air Algerie flights. The remainder entered southern Algeria at the Debdeb border crossing, 450km north-east of Illizi.

Assistance was provided to 1,400 people at the border crossing by elements from the Algerian army, gendarmerie, Civil Protection Force, Algerian Red Crescent and the medical service of Sonatrach .

However, due to the scale of the crisis in Libya, where nearly 8,000 Algerians were living, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika decided to dispatch a ship, the Tassili II, to bring home as many Algerians as possible. The ship left Algiers on February 26th carrying a delegation from the foreign ministry, as well as a medical team, police officers and journalists.

Sonatrach announced on Tuesday that it had repatriated all of its employees working in Libya and added that none of its facilities had sustained any damage. Eighty employees were working for Sonatrach International Petroleum Exploration and Production (SIPEX), whose Libyan operations are focused on two exploration blocks in the Ghadames Basin close to the Algerian border.

"The Algerians suddenly found themselves without money or official identity documents after the company was destroyed by the guards themselves, who also confiscated the workers' belongings," said Fillali Kheireddine, a pastry cook from Jijel who worked at the Al-Waha oilfield, 350km east of Benghazi.

Nearly 80 Algerian nationals entered Egypt via the border crossing of Es-Saloum. The manager of the Ajdabiya Stars football club, Abdelaziz Robii, told APS that he feared for his life "after rumours circulated about foreigners, including Algerians, and the fire at the hotel where we were staying spurred myself and two Algerian players from the club to flee with the help of armed Libyan players who accompanied us as far as the Egyptian border".

© Magharebia.com 2011