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Berber
To Become Second Official Language In Algeria
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| Delegates
of Amazigh towns during a banned protest in Algiers |
ALGIERS,
March 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced late Tuesday that the Berber language
will become an official language in Algeria alongside Arabic after
leaders of the minority called for a boycott of the May election.
"I
have decided in total freedom and with total conviction to include
Tamazight in the constitution as a national language with the sole
intention of serving the country and its national interest,"
Bouteflika said in a speech to the nation, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Tamazight,
which encompasses several regional dialects, is spoken mostly by
Berbers and by other ethnic groups in Algeria and Morocco.
Berbers
are believed to make up about 17% of Algeria's population.
They
allegedly have deep-rooted grievances over unemployment, bad housing
and perceived abuses by security officials, BBC’s online news
service reported.
The
protest movement in Kabylie has been demanding the withdrawal of
despised paramilitary gendarmes, as well as greater democracy and
accountability and a program to re-launch the region's economy.
The
announcement came three days after leaders of the large Berber
minority called for a boycott of the May ballot, saying the
government had not met their key demands. Their demands included
official recognition of Tamazight and improved living conditions in
the Berber region of Kabylie in eastern Algeria.
Earlier
Tuesday, Bouteflika met with the moderate wing of the Arouch
movement to reach solutions to solve the crisis in the Kabylie
region.
According
to the Algerian daily online newspaper, Al Akhbar, observers
expected Bouteflika to recognize Tamazigh as a national language.
However, the hardliners are still rejecting any dialogue with the
regime pointing out that all the claims of El Kseur must be
accepted.
The
meeting, held Tuesday afternoon, was followed by a live televised
address to the nation, BBC reported.
Three
months of riots last year by Berbers protesting at police brutality
and discrimination left 60 people dead and 2,000 injured, according
to official figures.
Last
June the “aarchs” - the ancient Berber tribal and village
councils - drew up a 15-point list of demands to the government for
improving living conditions in their poor and mountainous region,
known as the "El-Kseur Platform".
At
present Arabic is the only official language in Algeria.
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