ALGIERS (Reuters) – Election observers from U.S. non-governmental organizations the Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute will for the first time be able to monitor a parliamentary election in Algeria later this year, the interior minister said Tuesday.

Daho Ould Kablia told Reuters that the government, accused of interfering in past votes, would play only a logistical role in the May 10 election, and that for the first time the vote will be supervised by judges and political parties.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian security forces have found a large cache of weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, which they believe were smuggled in from neighbouring Libya, a security source briefed on the discovery told Reuters on Saturday.

The find follows warnings from governments in the region that instability in Libya after the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule is allowing weapons taken from Gaddafi’s arsenal to fall into the hands of al Qaeda’s north African branch and other insurgent groups across the Sahara desert.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian security forces have found a large cache of weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, which they believe were smuggled in from neighboring Libya, a security source briefed on the discovery told Reuters on Saturday.

The find follows warnings from governments in the region that instability in Libya after the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule is allowing weapons taken from Gaddafi’s arsenal to fall into the hands of al Qaeda’s north African branch and other insurgent groups across the Sahara desert.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – When Moncef Marzouki, a former dissident transformed by the “Arab Spring” into Tunisia’s president, paid an official visit to Algeria on Sunday, red and white Tunisian flags flew from lamp-posts in his honor.

Just two days earlier, another former dissident and leading figure of Tunisia’s revolution had been barred from entering. Sihem Bensedrine was allowed into the country after a seven-hour wait only after protests from fellow human rights activists.

ALGIERS, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Cold weather spreading from
Europe into North Africa has helped the grain crops in Algeria
and Tunisia by dumping snow and rain, breaking a drought so
severe that mosques had offered up prayers for rain.

Neighbouring Morocco though, missed out on the precipitation
and a farmers’ representative said the combination of cold and
lack of rain could hurt crops there, with sugar beet and cane
especially vulnerable.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria’s government will ignite an explosion of unrest if it tries to rig a parliamentary election in May to keep its grip on power, according to the leader of an Islamist opposition party vying for a big share of the vote.

Algeria, a big energy exporter, is the only North African state largely untouched by the “Arab Spring” upheavals in the region but the election could still act as a catalyst for protests over unemployment, a lack of housing and a government many people feel does not listen to them.

ALGIERS, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Algeria’s government on
Tuesday authorised the creation of the first new political
parties in more than a decade, four months before a
parliamentary election when the authorities will be under
pressure to allow more democracy.

Opponents of the Algerian government though say it is only
paying lip service to greater freedoms, under pressure from the
“Arab Spring” upheavals elsewhere in the region, while retaining
tight control on the political scene.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – A kidnapped Algerian regional governor has been freed after his captors were intercepted inside Libya, officials said on Tuesday, an incident that will raise new concerns about instability spilling over from Libya to its neighbors.

Two Algerian security sources earlier told Reuters the governor was being held by al Qaeda. Security experts have warned the group is exploiting turmoil in Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi to carve out a safe haven.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Algeria in the next few weeks, two diplomatic sources told Reuters, a visit which would boost an Algerian government left exposed by the “Arab Spring” uprisings.

Algeria is the only north African state largely untouched by recent popular revolt in the region but its leaders face mounting internal pressure to embrace greater democracy before a parliamentary election scheduled for May this year.