WARNING: The U.S. Department of State urges travelers to Algeria to evaluate carefully the risks posed to their personal safety. Terrorist attacks including bombings, false roadblocks, kidnappings, and ambushes occur regularly, particularly in rural areas such as the Kabylie region of the country. The same group is believed to operate in Southern Algeria and to be linked to the kidnapping in February 2011 of a western tourist in the southeast, near the Nigerien border. This regional kidnapping threat was noted in the Department of State’s Worldwide Caution, dated January 31, 2011. Individuals who reside or travel in Algeria should take prudent personal security measures to include stocking adequate reserves of medicine, food, and water for use during an emergency. Additionally, sporadic episodes of civil unrest have been known to occur, most recently in the form of riots in Algiers and many other cities since January 2011. Travelers should avoid large crowds and maintain security awareness at all times. |
Algeria (Arabic: الجزائر al-Jazā’ir) , , is an Arab and Berber country in North Africa. It has a Mediterranean Sea coastline in the north. It is surrounded by Morocco to the northwest, Tunisia to the northeast, Libya to the east, Niger to the southeast, Mali to the southwest, Mauritania and Western Sahara to the west. After the secession of South Sudan from Sudan, Algeria became the largest country in Africa.