Algeria to lift state of emergency before end of February

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story/Agence France-Presse

ALGIERS – Algeria said Wednesday it will lift by the end of February the state of emergency slapped on the country 19 years ago at the start of a decade-long bloody conflict with Islamist militants.

"The lifting of the state of emergency will take place before the end of the current month along with the announcement of several measures regarding housing, jobs and administration management," the state news agency APS quoted Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia as saying.

The state of emergency was declared in 1992 amid the violence pitting radical Islamists against the military-backed government which claimed at least 150,000 lives over a decade.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had announced earlier this month he would lift the state of emergency "in the very near future," among a series of new measures long demanded by the opposition. But he did not give a precise date.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/16/algeria-to-lift-state-of-emergency-before-end-of-february/