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The State Department has reiterated in its latest annual report that Algeria’s designation of the Kabyle Movement as a terrorist group is disingenuous and politically motivated.
The Department’s new Country Reports on Terrorism notably emphasized that the Algerian government’s decision to designate the movement as a terrorist group is not based on security concerns but rather reflects political dynamics within the North African country.
“The United States considers Algeria’s concentration on these groups to be more political than security related, and neither appears to have committed what the United States defines as terrorist acts,” the report said.
The US Department issued a similar position last year as part of the 2022 Country Terrorism Report.
In that previous report, the US State Department similarly suggested that Algeria’s “terrorist” designation of groups such as the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylie as terrorist was politically motivated and primarily aimed to discredit or delegitimize their causes.
“In 2021 Algerian authorities targeted more frequently the Berber separatist Movement of the Self-Determination of Kabylie and the Islamist movement Rachad, which the government designated as terrorist organizations in May,” the State Department recalled.
In addition, the US State Department echoed international concerns about Algeria’s misuse of terror law to target dissidents and government critics.
UN experts have frequently shared similar concerns in recent years, repeatedly warning about the deteriorating state of human rights in Algeria due to the ongoing crackdown on dissidents, activists, and human rights groups.
In February last year, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said of the situation of human rights in Algeria: “Acts of limited meditation and repression against the human rights movement must end.”
She added that the Algerian government’s decision to dissolve the human rights associations active in the country amounted to “an alarming crackdown on civil society organizations.”
