Ten years after the attack on In Amenas, Algeria has not spared its security efforts

In recent years, the Algerian army has stepped up security efforts on its border with Libya.

REUTERS/Kjetil Alsvik / Statoil/Handout

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On January 16, 2013, armed men attacked the Tiguentourine gas site, near In Amenas, in southeastern Algeria, near the Libyan border.

They take dozens of foreign employees hostage and free the Algerians.

The attack, which ended in a bloodbath, was piloted remotely by jihadist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a dissident from Aqmi (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), but whose group remains affiliated with al-Qaeda.

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Ten years after the

spectacular attack of In Amenas

 which lasted three days, has Algeria succeeded in securing its border?

Terrorism is over

in Algeria

 ,” President Tebboune declared on December 30, 2022 to the French daily

Le Figaro

.

In recent years, it must be recognized that the Algerian army has increased security efforts on its border with Libya, but not only.

It has also strongly deployed its army on the borders with Morocco, Niger, Mali, Tunisia and Mauritania.

A device which is spread over 4,600 km and which cost Algiers several million dollars in soldiers, but also and above all in electronic control systems, such as ultra-sophisticated radars.

fragile areas

These areas are indeed fragile.

Pockets of terrorism have been created there, while drug traffickers also thrive there, often in conjunction with the jihadists.

These sensitive areas therefore represented a very significant security challenge for the Algerian authorities.

This is also what dictated the foreign policy of this country

concerned with pacifying Libya, Mali and the Sahel

.

Border security has been a major concern for Algeria since 2011, which has managed since 2013 to avoid attacks similar to In Amenas.

According to several observers, if terrorist organizations can no longer settle in Algeria, this country is however not immune to attacks carried out by those who are called lone wolves.

According to the Algerian Ministry of Defense, 371 terrorists were arrested and 39 others killed in 2022.

Our articles on the hostage-taking of In Amenas

► In Amenas hostage-taking: return to the day of January 17 in Algeria

► Algeria: In Amenas hostage-taking ends in blood

► In Amenas attack: "It's as if the terrorists were at home"

 In Amenas Hostage Taking: How the Terrorists Prepared

► Algeria: one year after the bloody hostage-taking of In Amenas

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  • Algeria

  • Terrorism

  • Abdelmadjid Tebboune