Algeria, US to Discuss Combating Corruption and Terrorism

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria with US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet last August (Algerian Foreign Ministry)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria with US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet last August (Algerian Foreign Ministry)
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Algeria, US to Discuss Combating Corruption and Terrorism

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria with US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet last August (Algerian Foreign Ministry)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria with US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet last August (Algerian Foreign Ministry)

US and Algerian officials have launched a "strategic dialogue" in Washington to discuss issues related to combating corruption and terrorism.

In a statement, the Algerian Foreign Ministry said that its Secretary-General, Lounes Magramane, chaired with the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Middle Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf, the Sixth Session of the Algerian-US Strategic Dialogue.

The meeting is set to discuss energy, higher education, emerging companies, culture, and transportation.

The statement explained that a sizeable Algerian delegation is participating in the meeting, highlighting that the discussions will include regional and international developments and cooperation in combating terrorism.

Notably, the bilateral strategic dialogue meetings usually address many other issues, including security coordination between the two governments against money laundering and drying up the sources of terrorism.

Last August, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf held high-level meetings in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk.

The meetings addressed the crises in Libya and Mali, the military coup in Niger, the repercussions of the Sahel's problems on regional security, and jihadist groups' ability to exploit local unrest to their advantage.

Meanwhile, Algerian Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane revealed that his country had sent 259 judicial letters to 31 countries since 2020 related to freezing the assets and deposits of former figures of the former regime.

Algeria believes the 31 countries are a haven for smuggled public funds, according to the General Policy Statement of the government presented on Tuesday to Parliament by Benabderrahmane.

The Prime Minister did not mention the amounts that had been allocated.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed to the press at the end of last year that his country could recover approximately $22 billion of "stolen funds."

Tebboune also confirmed the authorities' efforts to recover funds outside the country smuggled illegally during the previous regime, explaining that Algeria has negotiated with the European Union regarding recovering the stolen funds.

He also said that Spain had agreed to hand over to Algeria three luxury 5-star hotels owned by a businessman in prison without naming him.

Observes believed Tebboune was referring to tycoon Ali Haddad, convicted by the courts to imprisonment on several corruption cases.

After convicting them in absentia, the Algerian judiciary issued an international arrest warrant against former Energy Minister Chakib Khelil and his wife residing in the US.

They were found guilty of squandering public funds when concluding contracts with foreign companies, including receiving bribes and commissions worth $190 million in a fuel deal between Sonatrach and Italian Saipem in 2012.



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.