Security measures are part of border protection, concerning both the circulation of items and the movement of people in this vulnerable zone, but elected officials at the border are demanding that such procedures are done with the local Algerian populations in mind. 

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Demonstrations recently took place in Timiawin where inhabitants demanded access to drinking water. Representatives of the Timiawin commune openly challenged the President of the Republic in front of the daira tribunal on the difficulties that these marginalized communities face. 1000 liters of water costs 1500 DA, an unmanageable price for locals.

On June 10, residents of Tin Zawatin protested against the barbed wire fence. On June 11, representatives of the civil society addressed the wali of Tamanghasset in a formal note with a list of complaints, the barbed wire around the wadi being one of them. They asked for the reconstruction of a wall with a means of passing through and clearing the way for farmers and pastoralists in non-urbanized areas. The letter also brings up a need for better communication between local notables and security forces in order to maintain peace in the region. 

Akram Kharief, Sahel specialist, told Maghreb Element, “We set up levees, sand walls and barbed wire to avoid the infiltration of terrorist groups and to avoid them from possible suicide bombings that could occur. In the case of Tin Zawatin, the barbed wire has isolated the populations of the wadi, according to testimony.” Kharief believes that these buffer zones should take the views locals have on movement, water, and livestock into account.  The barbed wire was placed at a certain distance from the border, on Algerian territory, and compromised the land on which the inhabitants use for agriculture. The wadi is barren for most of the year, but is filled with water in the months of July and August. In the summer, it is vital for families.

An ex-military chief explains that, using military logic, the wadi is a natural barrier one ought to leave behind, forcing potential threats to cross before reaching you. From this point of view, the establishment of the defense line on the northern bank of the wadi in Tin Zawatin is an imperative combat strategy for military leadership. Residential areas adjacent to the border are targeted by terrorists because they are their preferred means of infiltrating and hitting military sites. A suicide attack killed a guerrilla soldier in the Tin Zawatin region in February. That being said, this locality is in a destitute state despite promises of development, forcing local populations to be reliant on livestock. The ex-military chief states that the interests of the people and of national security have to be in harmony.

On the other hand, those who caught wind of this news have also said barbed wire has never stopped a terrorist before. Locals contest that the barbed wire should have been situated by the administrative border, and not where it would cut off populations by the wadi. A group of people torn down the barrier. The GGF (Border Gard) and later the GIR intervened. In a video we see that the gendarmes shot fire in the air, and not directly at protesters, likely to incite fear and make people move away from the torn-down wire.

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The National Ministry of Defense (MDN) confirms a gunshot death but denies that Algerian security forces were involved in the incident. The fatality took place 225 m away from the Malian border, a complicated location and distance for it to be caused by a precise shot. There is a possibility, according to Kharief, that it was the result of a lost bullet. In any case, the victim was north of where the gendarmes opening fire were.

Many are accusing the National People’s Army for having opened fire on individuals in Ikhraben, bordering the municipality of Tin Zawatin in the 6th Military Region. All allegations have been formally denied. The MDN claims these events to be linked to persons known for suspicious activities in contraband and organized crime. According to the MDN in their press release, these nationals in question called locals to violence and had an aim of taking down the barbed wire.  

The MDN explains that at the time when the Algerian Border Guard intervened to appease the situation, unknown shots were fired from Ikhraben in the direction of the Border Guard, having hit an individual among the crowd, “who was immediately evacuated by the border guards to be taken care of by the health services, but who unfortunately died from his injuries.” To this end, the High Command of the National People’s Army “has ordered the opening of an investigation to elucidate the circumstances of this incident,” and calls “for vigilance regarding these kind of rumors and misinformation, used by hostile parties, aiming to disrupt the situation in this region.” The wounded individuals were transported to Tamanghasset.

Last March, and on the occasion of the death of a young man killed by the police while he was aboard his vehicle, seven deputies from the wilayas of Tamanghasset, Illizi and Adrar had sent a protest letter to the Prime Minister A. Djerad. Boudjemaa Balaou, elected official of the APW in Tamanghasset, released a video testimony mentioning this. They had called for better regulation of areas closed by barbed wire, a passage for farmers and ranchers, water, better procedures enacted by security authorities, and finally local development. 

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In 2018, authorities created a “special development program” for these areas. According to Lyas Hallas, the amenokal (community leader) of the Hoggar region in Tamanghasset, Idabir Ahmed, said, “I condemn these unjustified behaviors in the Tin Zawatin region.” He advised the population of Tamanghasset, and residents of Tin Zawatin in particular, to practice self-restraint and discretion. “I am in contact with the country’s highest authorities, in order to find a final solution to such abuses in the border areas.”

Imouhagh International Organization for the Sake of Justice and Transparency released this document:

Balaou recalled that in previous events in border areas, authorities had called for dialogue with local notables. That is no longer enough for the inhabitants. 

From November 30 to December 3, the 2019 MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) Congress took place in Kidal, under the theme of continuing a generational struggle against current conditions and striving for a better future.

A military parade took place, preparations inspected by colonel and MNLA Chief of Staff Mahamad Ag Najim, and more than 10,000 civilians attended.

110 tinted tents (ehaket), each made of between 80 to 90 sheepskins were set up. The skins are tinted by hand on red hills (tamakchoyt) and seamed together by women– a task that can take up to 3 years to finish. On the first day, the mufti of Kidal recited Surat al-Fatiha, an address was made by the amenokal of the Adagh, and speeches were made by Algerian, Libyan, Moroccan, Mauritanian, and Nigerien spokespersons as well as Ulemas. Kids gathered to cheer “Azawad harkouk!”

On the final day, the famous Tinariwen group played their new Amadjar album, opened up by Majdou, an artist from Tarbiyat, Niger, and Tamikrest. This was their first concert after many years. 

Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, or Abraybon, said to his audience regarding the opportunity to perform in Kidal again, “It’s always been my dream, I did not think it would happen in my lifetime.” In one song he sang, “Even if you see my smile, know that my heart has scars.”

Eyadou Ag Leche, bass guitarist of Tinariwen, told TV 5 Monde, “It’s like returning to family, because it’s a family we’ve abandoned for long, due to the many events that have took place in the zone…We’re very happy to be here and participate in the movement.” From the first note, the audience lit up. The intense feeling of exile was felt in the music. “We have a noble cause that we are defending,” Ag Leche said. A solution is wanted as soon as possible in order to establish peace. 

Tuaregs from the Aïr (Niger) gifted President and Secretary General of MNLA Bilal Ag Asherif a shield (imajaghan), and Bilal Ag Asherif gifted a guitar made by local artisans to Ibrahim Ag Alhabib as well as the following:

Backdrop

At age four, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, founder of Tinariwen, witnessed the execution of his father, a Tuareg resistance fighter, during the 1963 uprising in Mali. He then lived in refugee camps near Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Algeria. He built his own guitar out of a “plastic water can, a stick and some fishing wire,” according to Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni. 

In 1979, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib formed the group with Alhassane Ag Touhami and brothers Inteyeden Ag Ablil and Liya Ag Ablil to play at parties and weddings, the same year he acquired his first real acoustic guitar. While the group had no official name, people began to call them Kel Tinariwen, which in Tamashek means “The People of the Deserts.” Later, Ag Alhabib resided with other Tuareg exiles in Libya where they joined the Tuareg resistance movement and met fellow musicians Keddou Ag Ossade, Mohammed Ag Itlale, Sweiloum, Abouhadid, and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni.

The musicians joined together in a collective (now known as Tinariwen) in order to create music about the issues the Tuareg people face. They built a makeshift studio and vowed to record songs for free for anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. The resulting homemade cassettes were traded widely throughout the Sahara.

In 1989, the collective left Libya and moved to Ag Alhabib’s home village of Tessalit where he hadn’t been in 26 years. In 1990 the Tuaregs of Mali revolted against the government, with some members of Tinariwen participating as resistance fighters. After a peace agreement known as the Tamanrasset Accords was reached in January 1991, the musicians left the military and devoted themselves to music full-time. You can learn more about Ag Alhabib and Tinariwen in a documentary called Teshumara.

“Tamazight,” the pluralistic Amazigh language bloc, became official under the 2016 Constitution, and the State has since started to develop the necessary mechanisms for its teaching. One of the things that provoked discussion was the standardization of a single Amazigh language. Algeria has more than four Amazigh-speaking groups, not just Taqbaylit, which has been at the forefront of many initiatives. 

Daika Dridi wrote about this in HuffPost Algérie, “What neither Benghabrit nor Ouyahia say is that the students who are taught “Tamazight” everywhere in Algeria and including Kabylia are fleeing the courses of this teaching because they do not understand what is taught, because they do not recognize this language which is supposed to be their mother tongue. It is not really the Berber languages ​​as they are spoken by their communities that the schoolchildren of Kabylia, Mzab, the Shawi or Targi regions learn when they go to “Tamazight” class but something else.”

Abderrezak Dourari, who heads a state center for research and reflection on the teaching of Tamazight (National Pedagogical and Linguistic Center for Teaching Tamazight), talks about this pedagogical failure which, he says, is the same failure in Morocco, explaining that mistakes made with Arabization have been repeated with the teaching of Tamazight, which has become a “Re-Berberization” enterprise.

“What is the usefulness of this artificial language apart from flattering our ego? It has no chance of survival and it is this language that is taught at school,” says Abderrezak Dourari.

What began as a brilliant political victory with the enshrinement of Amazigh language teaching in the Algerian constitution has turned into a language that nobody understands, including those who created it. Dourari explains that it was political authorities like the High Commission for Amazighity (HCA) and not linguists who invented this language.

In reality, texts in “Tamazight” (official documents, advertising posters, etc.) never exist initially as “texts in an Amazigh language,” they are always translations of French or Arabic, acrobatically elaborated transcriptions using the Mammeri lexicon. Abderrezak Dourari regrets that the plural aspect of the Amazigh language bloc has been completely embroiled in a process of unification without any real reflection. The only linguistic plurality that seems to stay intact is the choice of script. This isn’t dictated by the Ministry of Education which ensures the presence of the three alphabets (Arabic, Tifinagh/neo-Tifinagh and Latin) in textbooks, leaving room for teachers to decide. This cannot be said for Morocco where IRCAM, a non-democratic body, has imposed the sole use of neo-Tifinagh. The first major network for Amazigh language teaching in Morocco was created in Rabat by a group from the Souss on November 10, 1966 (AMREC) whose action primarily targeted oral culture and literacy because of the repressive context at the time.

It is the role of an Amazigh Language Academy to preserve the plurality of Algerian Amazigh languages by taking them from those who speak them and collecting corpora for each of its varieties, so that they are taught in an effective way. This has not yet emerged. Abdelwahab Sahrawi, a specialist in Arabic and Islamic studies, said efforts should be focused on deepening academic research, before suggesting a common transcription between variants of the Amazigh language within the range of Shawi, Kabyle, Tamahaq, Tamzabt and Shelhi expression, knowing that some are concerned about consolidating the cohesion of the Algerian people. 

The president of the “Culture and Reform of the Old Qsar” association in Ouargla, Hocine Boughaba, for his part, discussed the means of preservation and promotion of the Amazigh heritage and its variants.

Mr. Boughaba said that the association has been, since its creation, a cell composed of researchers, academics and poets, responsible for the enrichment of research in the field of the Wargli-Zenatic linguistic variant.

For those interested in excellent linguistic work on Amazigh varieties check out: Salem Chaker, Lameen Souag, Amina Mettouchi, Marijn van Putten, and Maarten Kossmann.

During a joint conference with his Malian counterpart, Mahamadou Issoufou declared that “the status of Kidal is a threat to the internal security of Niger.”

On September 28, a young Tuareg activist and member of Imouhagh International was stopped in Tamanghasset by State Security for having called people to protest in front of the Malian and Nigerien consulates to support the Azawad cause.

On September 29, people took to the streets chanting “Azawad yes! CEDEAO no!”, “Azawad yes! Mali no!” and “God is great.” They stood outside the tribunal to demand the liberation of activist Lansari.

The organization Imouhagh International for Justice and Transparency tells Algerian authorities that writing an article rejecting the war in Azawad is not a valid reason for arrest. They demand the immediate and unconditional release of its activist Ahmed Lansari (Tanas). They condemn the violation of the right of expression and invite Algerian authorities to also respect national and international laws.

Tuareg refugees in Tamanrasset and the Azawad cause

Algeria is 400 km away from the border of Mali from Tamanghasset. Former Senator Othmane Ben Messaoud summarizes the dynamic between the two countries (paraphrased): “The economic relations between the Algerians of the South and the inhabitants of the north of Mali are such that all that happens on the other side of the border touches us too.”

Since the beginning of the conflict, there have been more than 30,000 Malian refugees as of 2012, 450 officially, to have sought asylum in Algeria.

Boudjemaa Balaou, APW elect in Tamanghasset, said, “However, Azawad remains the problem of Malian Tuaregs. Whether their partition project succeeds or not, it’s not our business.”

He is not the only one to score distance with his Tuareg neighbors. Yet, neither Tuaregs indigenous to Tamanghasset nor the descendants of Tuareg refugees are being sufficiently supported politically and economically. “The people of Tam are not well enough represented. Neither in the National Assembly, where they have only five seats, nor in the administration,” says Ali, a young official.  “Yet, our wilaya represents a quarter of the country!”

Colonialism is a doctrine or ideology that justifies colonization understood as the extension of sovereignty of a modern, foreign State over territories outside its national borders.

The Muslim Conquest was not a form of colonialism.

Arab Conquest in North Africa

The seventh century Muslim Conquest does not represent some ultimate dagger to Berber populations by the “imposition of Arabization.” Arabization of North Africa happened in stages across vast periods of time, and Arabs were not the only ones to influence non-Arabs. Non-Arabs themselves played a tremendous role in the anchoring of the Arabic language in public life.

Linguistic Arabization also owes itself to variable causes — whether by education, migrating to an Arabophone city, the intermarriage between tribes, and so forth. Yussef Ou Tashfin, the military leader of the Almoravid dynasty, is said to not have spoken Arabic himself, yet today people from his tribe are Arabophones. The comparison between French colonization and the Muslim Conquest is quite evidently spurious once one acquires a constructive understanding of how nations and states have historically evolved.

Arabization was also not the same in different regions. Some regions were Arabized early, like the Doukkala of Morocco at the time of the Almohads, who brought Arab tribes to prevent revolts from the Idoukkalen. Other regions became Arabized during the colonial and post-colonial period for different reasons.

Arabic will never have the history of the French language in the Maghrib. Before then, Arabic was used because it was the lingua franca of the Muslim world; the alphabet was even used to write in Berber languages and other forms of ‘ajami. Mḥemmed U-Ɛli U-Brahim Akʷbil Awzal is the most important author in the literary tradition of Tashelhit. He was born around 1680 in the village of al-Qaṣaba in the tribal territory of the Indouzal (Sus region of Morocco), and died in 1749. His full name in Arabic is Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Akbīlī al-Hawzālī (or al-Indūzālī) al-Sūsī. He is the author of several works in Tashelhit (Shilha) and Arabic which are preserved in manuscripts.

For Kabylia, I recommend reading this very interesting article. Manuscript libraries of zawiyas in eastern Kabylia show transliteration of Taqbaylit using Arabic script. “The best-documented ones are the religiously focused materials from the collection of Shaykh Lmuhub Ulaḥbib of Tala Uzrar (near Bejaia), born in 1822 (Aïssani 1998), some of which may predate the 19th century.”

Furthermore, in Kabylia, “The codes submitted to the French authorities were in Arabic, frequently written by the local imam or other religious scholars” (Scheele, 2008). It was the French language that established a real colonial force in all history of the Muslim world.

During colonial times, the French declared that Maghribis were illiterate, but this was not true.

What is Arabization?

A relative balance between Arabophone and Berberophone regions was established over time, alongside complete Islamization (urban Jews aside). The territory became divided between Berber-speaking/Berber tribes, Arabic-speaking Berber tribes (who today are likely to consider themselves plainly Arab), Arab tribes, and more rarely bilingual Arab tribes. 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Amazigh World News’ editorial views.

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Tamazight is not one language

Pr. Mettouchi clears up a misconception, “This is not only a question of scientific truth, but it is also a trap for Berber languages, to talk about Tamazight as one language because then individual languages die in silence since as long as some speakers of major varieties still speak those varieties, one believes that “the language” is alive and does not involve themselves in documentation and preservation. This is what has happened in the last decades, and it is time we reverse the trend and celebrate and document the beautiful diversity of Berber languages.”

What can the average person do?

“The most urgent is to collect recordings from threatened Berber languages, make audio and video recordings of elders telling stories, evoking memories, remembering ancient traditions, songs, poems, proverbs, riddles etc.”

She continues, “One crucial thing also is that speaking a language to talk about modern realities in our Western lives is good, but doing only that leaves unseen the whole iceberg, which is the wealth of traditional knowledge that characterizes indigenous cultures,” regarding the environment, medicinal plants, philosophies or world-views, history, “that we do not use on an everyday basis to go shopping or talk about our feelings or our jobs.”

Pr. Mettouchi suggests setting up kindergartens where children can learn a respective Amazigh language in an interactive and organic way. “They are easy to implement, even in diaspora contexts at a smaller scale, but they are only possible if we think about it in a radically new way, by empowering women, especially older women who still are skilled in traditional activities and language, and by being confident in the value and importance of oral transmission.”

How can we spark interest in some Arabophones who may believe the preservation of Amazigh languages does not concern them?

“All studies on bilingualism or multilingualism in the last decades have proved that speaking several languages is better for everything, from health to wealth, than being monolingual. The idea that for instance, an Arabic speaker must, for her children, choose between learning English and learning Rif Berber is beside the point.”

Pr. Mettouchi’s favorite project and final remarks

“I have a soft spot in my heart for the first international project I coordinated, CorpAfroAs, because it was very innovative at the time, and there were several young Ph.D. researchers involved, whose input was crucial, and whose energy carried the project onwards. But the most exciting endeavor for me is the one I am developing right now, this large-scale project on the documentation of the diversity of Berber languages, which interacts with other more academic interests of mine. I love the fact that my academic work might make a difference in the lives of children who are in danger of never having the opportunity to speak their ancestors’ language, and who will perhaps be given back that opportunity because everyone will feel responsible for that, and act in that direction.”

For full story: https://insidenorthafrica.com/2019/03/23/linguist-and-professor-amina-mettouchi-endangered-berber-languages/

Thought to be missing, they are still in relatively good condition. On Madi’s site, there is an article on the preservation of heritage. He notes that there are many libraries in the Nafousa mountains but the owners are afraid to publicize their archives. He says by convincing them of public interest, they could contribute to preserving Nafousi history.

Mubarak Belkacem explains that the old word for “Arabic” in Tamazight was Taserɣint and “Arab” was Aserɣin. He says we know this thanks to an ancient Ibadi manuscript called Kitab al-Barbarbiyya. For centuries, this manuscript was distributed among the Ibadis in Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria. In this manuscript, we find further evidence that the Imazighen in the early period of Islamic revelation and the spread of the Khariji (and then Ibadi) doctrine called their language Tamaziɣt.

The author of this manuscript is an Ibadi faqih whose name was Abu Zakariyya Yahya al-Yefreni. The manuscript was written with the aim of translating and explaining Ibadi jurisprudence (from Tamazight to Arabic) to another Ibadi jurist named Abu Ghanim Bishr al-Khorasani, referred to as Boughanim in Amazigh texts. This manuscript explains Islamic jurisprudence according to the Ibadi doctrine (all that relates to faith, prayer, fasting, zakat, marriage, divorce, inheritance, etc.).

We can conclude from the manuscript that the words Aserɣin and Taserɣint were known to the Imazighen since the early spread of Khariji and Ibadi Islam or perhaps before the Rashidi takeover of Egypt and Libya and before the Umayyad expansion to Tunisia and the rest of the Maghrib. The “Amazighification” of the Latin words for Arabic and Arab did not take long. In general, Ibadi Imazighen continued to use their pre-Islamic Amazigh terms in an Ibadi context. The writer of the Ibadi text used the terms Aserɣin and Taserɣint with confidence that the reader would understand it referred to Arabic-speaking Ibadi students.

Among the ancient Amazigh religious terms found in the Ibadi “Amazigh Book” we have these examples:

Yuc = God

Bab enne = our Lord / our Owner / God

Ababay = God / Lord

Ibabayyen = gods

Aykuzen = Islam

Tira = The Book / Quran

Iser = the Prophet

Isaren = the Prophets / Apostles

Anǧlusen = angels (Probably from Latin: angelus)

Adaymun = Satan (Probably from Latin: daemon)

Idaymunen = demons

Tizzarnin = Duhr prayer

Tuqzin = Asr prayer

Tin wučču = Maghrib prayer

Tin yiḍes = Isha prayer

Tin uzečča = Fajr prayer

Tifellas = People of the Book / the People of Jizyah and the Covenant (Jews and Christians)

Imusnawen = jurists

Tafeṣka = Eid

Tifekawin = holidays

Tir meǧǧut / Abekka / Abekkaḍo = sin

Taǧrzawt = remorse / repentance

Amerkidu = reward

Aymir = punishment

Uluf = divorce

Amatus = guardian (of women)

Tamzilt = atonement

Ti toar = reading

Asired / Asine = ablution / washing

Injan = dirt

Tazduni = purity

Yessure = permit / license

Amekkasu = heir

Tiyusawin = inheritance

Amenkuc = the Islamic Dinar

Idaddayen = parents (father and mother)

Timirt = time

Tasefri = house

Enneflen diy-s = differed in

Edduklen fall-as = agreed upon

Aǧǧdet Yuc Bab enne = Fear God our Lord!

A project he began in the 1970s, Shaykh Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb has finished the first publication of a translated Quran in proper Kabyle using Arabic script.

Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb, a retired teacher who worked in Lakhdaria, Bouira, then in Tizi Ouzou, is particularly known for his mastery of Islamic studies. Si Hajj Mohand has distinguished himself by this translation of the Holy Quran. His book was published in Saudi Arabia where he was awarded a prize for his efforts in theology. In addition, a symposium was organized recently by the Religious Affairs of Tizi Ouzou under the wali of Tizi Ouzou, in the presence of all the imams of the wilaya. His book will be distributed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowment.

Speaking at a scientific conference organized by the National Association of Local and Sustainable Development, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowment Mohamed Isa says that this exegesis is “the first of its kind in Algeria and the Maghreb.”

“This publication reflects the deep understanding of the Holy Quran and Islam, lays the groundwork for the Amazigh language and methodology and opens the doors for research and enrichment in the future,” pointed out the Minister.

Abdelghani Ouicher, president of the National Association of Local and Sustainable Development, paid tribute to Mohamed Isa for his efforts while stating that he has not ceased to encourage the work of translating the Quran into an Amazigh language. 

This exegesis in Kabyle released in the conference room of the Riadh hotel in Sidi Fredj (Algiers) could trigger a domino effect with other Amazigh languages.

Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb said that the Quran was difficult to translate because of its highly distinctive quality, adding that his work was limited to the exegesis of the Quran.

The representative of the National Association revealed that, in the coming months, 100,000 copies (which will cost 10 million DA) will be printed and distributed in Kabylia for free. A free application on the internet will also be created following the author’s request.

The event was attended by parliamentarians, representatives of the Moroccan and Saudi embassies in Algiers, some official institutions, scholars and imams.

Ibtissam Azzaoui addressed the legislative institution considered to not necessarily enforce the 2011 Constitution. She says, “Until today, the Amazigh radio broadcasts the Parliament’s sessions of oral questions in Arabic.” The deputies’ questions being exclusively in Arabic are justified by the “absence of translators, which is absurd.”

Azzaoui sought to address “the phenomenon of refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status.”

“Normally, Amazigh first names can be registered in civil status registers, and Moroccan legislation does not go against that, but there is still a lot of work to be done by the Minister of Justice.” She says certain civil status officers choose individually not to do it.

“The problem is that some registrars sometimes do not understand the meaning of a given name and therefore they refuse it, and these are redundant cases that the Ministry concerned must absolutely face.”

A dictionary of Amazigh first names is available from the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture.

Here is Ibtissam Azzaoui’s written question translated in full:

“To the Minister of the Interior,

Under the supervision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives,

Subject: A written question on the refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status

Your Excellency the Minister,

We have received several complaints about the refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status. In this regard, we ask you about the causes of this refusal and the measures taken to guarantee the completion of a national list of Amazigh names.

Please accept the expression of my deepest respect.”

End of letter.