Diplomatic Doings, Pages 51-52

Algerian Ambassador Baali Invites Americans to Visit

ALGERIAN Ambassador Abdallah Baali is a man on a mission. During a Jan. 27 interview with the Washington Report, Ambassador Baali said he wants to encourage American tourists to visit Algeria and U.S. companies to invest. Abdallah Baali became Algeria’s ambassador to Washington on Nov. 5, 2008, after years of diplomatic service, including an assignment to Algeria’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations from 1982 to 1989, during which time he earned a degree in contemporary American politics at New York University. He later served as ambassador of Algeria to the U.N. from 1996 to 2006.

Algeria is still recovering from the effects of a decade of political turmoil from 1992-2002. Now that the level of violence is drastically reduced, and cities are safe again, the North African nation is building a touristic infrastructure and promoting tourism. With its lovely beaches, mountains and Sahara desert, Algeria is a beautiful destination for travelers. Ambassador Baali hopes religious pilgrims will flock to Tagaste, the birthplace in 354 A.D. of Saint Augustine of Hippo, as well as to Annaba, where he wrote the sermons and books, including his Confessions, which transformed Christian theology.

Algeria has been home to many luminaries, including Albert Camus, author of the novel L’Étranger (The Stranger), published in 1942, who was born in Mondovi, Algeria to a family of French settlers.

Algeria’s situation is not perfect, Ambassador Baali admits. A terrorist group previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now referred to as al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, is still operating on a low level. They operate in a huge area called the Sahel—which spans the south of Algeria, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad—that is difficult to monitor. Algeria’s three-pronged approach to combating extremism includes equipping security forces and gaining cooperation from the populace; a peace and national reconciliation program and amnesty that led to the surrender and re-integration of thousands of extremists; and a serious government effort to address the root causes of extremism—poverty, marginalization, injustice and lack of prospects. The unemployment rate in Algeria reached 30 percent in 2002, but now hovers between 11 and 12 percent, although young people are especially hard hit.

When asked his opinion of Obama’s first year in office, Ambassador Baali replied, “When Americans elected President Barack Obama and he reached out to Muslims, we hoped he would help change America and the world. We are pleased with his intentions, but we’re waiting for his new administration to deliver. Algerians are well aware of the president’s domestic complications and problems,” Baali continued. “We still believe that the Obama administration is our only chance to get the Middle East peace process revitalized.” After Obama achieves health care reform, Baali hopes the president will get more personally involved in the peace process. He and other Arab diplomats feel that they have excellent access to high offices in this administration.

The French occupation of Algeria, which lasted from 1830 to 1962, had a violent end. The French intended to stay, and considered Algeria their bread basket and a source of cheap labor. When asked what lessons Palestinians could take from Algeria’s experience, Ambassador Baali said he would not presume to teach Palestinians. “What made it successful? We were united,” he noted. “The National Liberation Front (FLN) was a unifying instrument, uniting all groups under one banner. We didn’t have the divisions that have unfortunately plagued Palestinian resistance.

“I am strongly in favor of Palestinian reconciliation. A unified leadership under one legitimate and credible representative will help Palestinians make their voices heard. They’ll be able to get the best deal with Israel and finally be able to establish an independent state. Unity is the key element in resistance movements fighting occupation.”

Israel’s policies, especially its siege on Gaza, but also the restrictions imposed in the West Bank, are absolutely inhuman, the ambassador declared. Its settlement policy is trying to create a fait accompli on the ground to make future negotiations on borders, and the contiguity of a future Palestinian state, more challenging.

Since the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, Americans are taking extreme measures—sealing borders and pointing a finger at Islamic countries, alienating Muslims instead of reaching out to them, Ambassador Baali observed. Algeria is one of 13 countries on the list where passengers are now subjected to thorough searches when boarding planes to the U.S. This is exactly what terrorists want the U.S. to do, the Algerian diplomat argued: Shut its doors and isolate itself from the world.

Ambassador Baali concluded by discussing the improvement of bilateral relations with the U.S., including economic, political and military cooperation and dialogue. Already Algeria is the second largest U.S. trading partner in Arab world. Its ambassador hopes that more American companies will operate in Algeria, drawn by its location, highly educated population, and its oil and gas reserves.

—Delinda C. Hanley