Ongoing instability in Algeria\'s Kabylia mountains

A cardiologist father of three is the latest kidnap victim in the now almost lawless region of Kabylia in Eastern Algeria. Abdelnacer Djellal of Beni Douala near Tizi Ouzou, was abducted this morning at around 7am as he was driving his children to school. The kidnappers thought to be linked to Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQMI) hesitated before taking him instead of his eldest son. The abduction took place minutes away from a military road block. Over the past couple of years abductions of wealthy locals have doubled forcing the local populations to organise marches in a bid to ask local authorities to bring these abductions to an end. Under the cover of terrorist activities linked to Al Qaeda, these abductions are rarely politically motivated and are often the work of local criminal gangs that prey on people of this mountainous region of Algeria. Two years ago the nephew of a wealthy businessman was captured and a ransom of DA500 000 000 (US$500 000) was demanded from the family. Once the young man was returned he identified young locals as his captors who were consequently jailed and given a two year sentence. Locals from the Berber region of Kabylia do not consider these sentences to be sufficient deterrents and kidnappings have doubled since then.