Algeria orders army to restore calm in strife-ridden Ghardaia province

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Wednesday ordered the army to restore calm in the strife-ridden province of Ghardaia following the death of 22 people in a new wave of ethnic clashes.

"Head of State instructed the army commander to supervise the work of security services and local authorities in a bid to restore and preserve public order all along the province of Ghardaia," said a statement of the President Office, quoted by APS news agency.

The president also instructed Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to "ensure, with the Minister of Justice, that the court deals with recorded violations of law in Ghardaia, particularly abuses against the security of people and property."

Bouteflika on Wednesday held an emergency meeting with top government and military officials, following the death of 22 people in ethnic clashes that rocked localities of Guerrara and Berriane in Ghardaia, 600 km southern Algeria's capital Algiers.

Earlier in the day, members of the Mozabite community living in Algiers staged a march in downtown to protest against insecurity in Ghardaia and urged the protection of their relatives there.

As many as 21 people were killed and hundreds others injured on Tuesday overnight in a new wave of ethnic clashes in the locality of Guerrara and Berriane.

The clashes erupted when a group of unknown youngsters with knives and firearms assailed a private bus. The overnight clashes continued until dawn, a security source said.

Since December 2013, the province of Ghardaia has been hit by a series of violent ethnic clashes between the Chaamba community, of Arab origin, and Mozabite Berbers of the Muslim Ibadi sect, which claimed so far more than 35 lives.

A shaky calm was restored last January after the two sides reached a truce initiated by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. However, this shaky calm did not resist more than six month.