The two sides signed a peace agreement in 2008 following a government initiative, but tensions in this town on the northern edge of the Sahara desert rose sharply in late 2013, after football riots led to weeks of looting and arson attacks. Not even colonists damaged them during the colonial era.īy Fekhar Kameleddine, Mozabite national council member It's a shame to have these historical places appreciated by locals and tourists damaged. This created tensions over land and housing that have still not been resolved. Much of the tension between the communities dates back to the mid-1960s, when the Algerian government encouraged the Bedouin population to settle in cities, many of them home to an Amazigh majority. The two groups have often clashed over property, housing, land ownership and employment opportunities.
Chaamba Arabs, originally Bedouins, see themselves as followers of the Maliki approach to Islamic law, while Berber Mozabites are Ibadis, practising a form of Islam that is distinct from Sunni and Shia. Ghardaia, also known as Taghardait in the local Amazigh (Berber) language, is home to two ethnic communities who share a history of rivalry. The latest round of fighting shattered a fragile, months-old peace, while the failure of political leaders to resolve the conflict has prompted many residents to lose faith in the ongoing dialogue process. “I’ve never seen such horrible scenes before.” “Both fighting communities were torching and attacking the premises and houses of the other and they were fighting with whatever they could grab, such as stones or pieces of iron bars, knives,” Said told Al Jazeera. The scene was “extremely violent”, according to Chalal Said, a restaurant owner in Ghardaia. Two police officers were also severely burned when rioters threw Molotov cocktails into their van, while dozens of other people were reportedly injured and hundreds of homes, shops and vehicles were torched. Three elderly residents died of tear gas inhalation in January after police intervened to stop fighting between rival gangs of high school students from the two communities. Ghardaia, Algeria – New clashes between Berber Mozabites and Chaamba Arabs in Ghardaia, 600km south of the Algerian capital Algiers, have underlined the complexity of the long-running conflict between the two communities.
0 kommentar(er)
