3. Algeria

People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (Al Jumhuriya al jaza'iriya ad Dimuqratiya ash sha'biyah)

Capital:

 Algiers

Currency:

Algerian Dinar

Area:

 2,381,741 sq.km Coastline: 998 km

Population:

 39,500,000 Other Large Cities: Oran, Constantine, Annaba; Languages: Arabic, Berber and French; Religions: Islam-99%; Literacy: 69.9%; Life Expectancy:72.30; p.c.i: $ 13,788; HDI rank: 93; Date of Indepen dence: 5th July, 1962.

Government Type

: Republic; President: Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Climate: Arid, Semi-arid, Mediterranean Regional Divisions: 48 Provinces, named

after the main city of each area. Geography: Algeria, the largest country in Africa, lies on the Mediterranean coast of Northwest Africa and extends southwards to the Atlas Mountains and the dry sand stone plateaus and desert of the Sahara.

History:

After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. Algeria has recently emerged from a brutal conflict that followed scrapped elec tions in 1992. In the 1990s Algerian politics

was dominated by the struggle involving the military and Islamist militants. In 1992 a general election won by an Islamist party was annulled, heralding a bloody civil war in which more than 150,000 people were slaughtered. An amnesty in 1999 led many rebels to lay down their arms. Violence has largely abated, although a state of emer

gency remains in place. Mission in India: Embassy of the Peo

ple's Democratic Republic of Algeria, E6 /5, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi-110057.Tel: 26146706, 26147036, 26147611; Fax: 26147033

E-mail: embalgindia@hotmail.com Indian Mission in Algeria: Embassy of India, 14, Rue des Abassides, Post Box No. 108 El-Biar- 16030 Algiers, Algeria. Tel: 00 213-21-923288; Fax: 00-213-2-924011. E-mail: indembalg@hotmail.com