Algeria to give legal status to African migrants

Algeria plans to grant residency rights and job 
permits to illegal African migrants amid a shortage of 
workers in farming and construction and after a surge
 in racist sentiment across the country.

Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune's plan follows the
launch of an anonymous online campaign that blames 
African migrants for taking jobs and spreading the HIV 
virus that causes AIDS.

To determine the number of beneficiaries of the 
scheme, the interior ministry is organising a census 
while security services will screen potential residency candidates.

"They will get a residency document which will allow 
them to get a job," Tebboune told politicians on Friday 
night.

He gave no further details on the scheme.

"That's great news, I will be happy if I can work under 
the framework of the law," a young Malian working 
illegally in a housing project as a mason in Ouled Fayet, 
west of Algiers, told Reuters news agency.

Youth unemployment is running at around 30 
percent in Algeria, but the country also faces a shortfall
 of workers in some sectors as it tries to steer its 
economy away from over- reliance on oil and gas production.