APS Tuesday, 10 April 2018
PARIS- President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika has initiated, since his election in 1999, a comprehensive strategy to put an end to terrorist violence and reconcile a wounded nation,”
Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel said Tuesday in Paris.
“(…) since his election in 1999, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has initiated a comprehensive strategy aiming at putting an end to the terrorist violence and reconciling a wounded and ravaged nation,” said the minister at the 204th session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in his speech on the International Day of Living Together in Peace.
The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution 72/130, initiated by Algeria, and which proclaimed May 16 the International Day of Living Together.
In this regard, Messahel recalled the “historic speech delivered by President Bouteflika at the UNESCO, thirteen years ago, during a conference on dialogue among civilizations.
“At a time when ideologists of apocalypse wanted to substantiate their thesis of an imminent clash between the Western and Muslim civilizations, the President of the Republic preferred to see a world moving towards happiness ‘our dream depends on our capacity to understand each other, accept the others in all their diversity, a diversity that could be a source of progress for humanity’,” he said.
The minister explained that the vision of “a tolerant and an open society, rooted in its history, and at the same time a forward-looking society, was an objective that he (President Bouteflika) wanted to make a reality in Algeria, but it was difficult to achieve then as Algeria was just getting out of a tragedy that bled the country white.”
Messahel also recalled that throughout a decade, “we fought, amidst the indifference of the international community, the evil scourge of terrorism, whose main aim was to destroy the State and its institutions, by perpetrating the most barbaric acts against populations, targeting mainly women, intellectuals and State officials and destroying infrastructures, schools, public buildings and even farmers’ crops.”
“It was only through the resilience of Algerian people, rallied around the security forces and the valiant People’s National Army, and after heavy sacrifices, that terrorism has been contained and then defeated,” he added.
