Replies

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_929.html

Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520

This information is current as of today, Sat Sep 15 2007 03:11:01 GMT-0700.

ALGERIA

September 14, 2007

This Travel Warning is being updated to alert U.S. citizens to recent terrorist attacks directed against foreigners in Algeria. The threat from terrorism in many areas of the country continues to pose a significant security risk. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued on March 22, 2007.

The Department of State urges U.S. citizens who travel to Algeria to evaluate carefully the risk posed to their personal safety. Sustained small-scale terrorist attacks including bombings, false roadblocks, kidnappings, ambushes, and assassinations occur regularly. A roadside bomb targeted a bus transporting foreign workers of a U.S. company in the western part of Algiers in December 2006. In April 2007 three suicide bombers detonated vehicle-borne explosives outside of government buildings in Algiers. Three more suicide bomb attacks in July and September 2007 in Lakhdaria, Batna and Dellys killed more than 80 people.

The Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens avoid overland travel in the mountainous northern part of the country, and particularly in the area stretching from Algiers east to the Tunisian border.

The U.S. Government considers the potential threat to U.S. Embassy personnel assigned to Algiers sufficiently serious to require them to live and work under strict security restrictions. These practices limit, and may occasionally prevent, the movement of U.S. Embassy officials in certain areas of the country. The Government of Algeria requires U.S. Embassy personnel traveling outside the province of Algiers or to the Casbah within Algiers to seek permission and to have a security escort. Travel to the military zone established around the Hassi Messaoud oil center requires Government of Algeria authorization. U.S. Government personnel are permitted by the Embassy to move freely in many areas in the center of Algiers, but are required to maintain prudent security practices. Travel by personnel to areas of the city outside this zone requires prior coordination with the Embassy’s Regional Security Office. American visitors are encouraged to contact the Embassy’s Consular Section for the most recent safety and security information concerning travel in the city of Algiers.

The Department of State cautions Americans who reside or travel in Algeria to take prudent security measures while in the country, including making provisions for reliable and experienced logistical support. This support should include being met upon arrival and accompanied for the duration of the visit. Visitors should ensure that tour operators and host organizations perform all notifications and coordination with Algerian police and security officials during their stay. Visitors to Algeria are advised to stay only in hotels where adequate security is provided. All visitors to Algeria should remain alert and adhere to prudent security practices such as avoiding predicable travel patterns and maintaining a low profile.

American citizens in or traveling to Algeria also are urged to register and to obtain updated information on travel and security in Algeria at the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Algiers or on our travel registration website at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ . The Embassy is located at 5 Chemin Cheikh Bachir El-Ibrahimi, B.P. 408 (Alger-Gare) 16000, in the capital city of Algiers. The Embassy can be reached at telephone [213] (21) 691-425; [213] (21) 691-186; fax [213] (21) 693-979; or email consularAlgiers@state.gov . U.S. citizens who require emergency services may telephone the Embassy at [213] (21) 691-255 Up-to-date information on security conditions as well as general information concerning Algeria and the U.S. Embassy is also available on the Embassy’s website http://Algiers.usembassy.gov/ .

For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Internet website at http://travel.state.gov where the Consular Information Sheet for Algeria and the current Worldwide Caution and Middle East and North Africa Public Announcements can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. To 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).