Algeria Issues First Official Statement in Amazigh Language

Amazigh demonstrator (File Photo: Reuters)
Amazigh demonstrator (File Photo: Reuters)
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Algeria Issues First Official Statement in Amazigh Language

Amazigh demonstrator (File Photo: Reuters)
Amazigh demonstrator (File Photo: Reuters)

In preparation to declare Amazigh an official language in addition to the Arabic, the Algerian government, represented by the Ministry of Interior, announced on Wednesday the start of registration for the next Hajj pilgrimage in its first official statement in the Amazigh language.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared the Amazigh New Year's Day a national and official holiday across the country during a Cabinet session.

Yennayer, Amazigh New Year, is celebrated on January 12, and unlike previous years, the Ministry of Religious Affairs decided to devote this week's Friday sermon in all mosques to praise the government's new decree.

Following the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Bouteflika issued a statement in which he expressed his best wishes to the Algerian people on the eve of 2018, and announced his decision to devote Yennayer as a “non-working and paid day.”

“This measure, like all those already taken for the benefit of our national identity in its triple Islamic, Arab and Amazigh component, will strengthen national unity and stability,” said Bouteflika.

The President called on his government to spare no effort to generalize the teaching and use of the Amazigh language in line with the constitution.

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the establishment of an Amazigh language academy.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education Nouria Benghabrit-Remaoun announced that students will learn Amazigh in ten additional provinces, after teaching it was limited to the Kabylie region.

Algerian officials stated that the new procedures will put a stop to calls for the separation of the Kabylie region known as "Kabylie Independence Movement".

Residents of Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia, and Bouira provinces stage daily demonstrations and marches asking for independence. Protesters call for the promotion of Amazigh language in educational institutions and carry the Amazigh flag.



Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israel Kills 40 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least 40 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said the dead included 17 women and 10 children. It said one strike killed 10 people from the same family, including three children.

The Israeli military did not comment on specific strikes, but said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and tunnels.

The war started after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.