Algeria drafts wartime mobilization bill amid regional tensions

ALGIERS — Algeria's government proposed a law to streamline military mobilization amid tensions with neighboring countries Morocco and Mali, as well as former colonial ruler France.

The text, set to be unveiled on Wednesday by the North African country's minister of justice, was approved by government ministers earlier this month.

Relations between France and Algeria sharply deteriorated last summer when France shifted its position to support Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algiers and is based in refugee camps in southeastern Algeria.

The debate on the general mobilization law comes as Algeria's strongman leader, army chief of staff Said Changriha, makes a series of trips to military regions in the border areas to oversee military manouvers.

It also comes after Algeria, which has one of Africa’s largest militaries, said earlier this month it had shot down a military drone near the country’s border with Mali. It was the first incident of its kind during growing tensions between the two countries that each govern a vast portion of the Sahara.

The text of the draft law, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, aims “to define the provisions for organizing, preparing and carrying out the general mobilization provided for in Article 99 of the Constitution," which authorizes the mobilization of all the nation’s forces in the event of a major crisis.

The draft law is raising concerns among ordinary Algerians.

"I did not understand what’s behind this project,’ Aziza Sahoui, a retired teacher, said on social media. “I’m really worried, especially as it comes after the incursion of a Malian drone into our territory.”