Algeria is calming down. The massacres have not stopped and the danger is still there, but fewer people die these days. Algeria does not issue visas to persons whose passports indicate previous travel to Israel or South Africa. Both "tourist" and business visas cost US$30. There isn't a predetermined length of stay. Instead, you must request the length of and reason for stay on the visa application. Visas permit entry into Algeria at authorized checkpoints by air, land or sea. At press time, Americans and other foreigners were permitted entry into Algeria from Libya, Mali, Tunisia, Niger and Mauritania. There is no entry into Algeria from Morocco. DP went in as a tourist, denying ourselves the luxury of an armed escort.
Journalists should transit through Paris because the city is a hub of numerous contacts of all political leanings within the Algerian expat/exile community. Among these folks are a number of Algerian journalists who can be contacted through French journalists. Journalists need six photos, your CV, two completed forms, a $32 money order made payable to the Embassy of Algeria, and you must tell them if you have been to Algeria before and wait two to three weeks. They probably just want to run your articles through the spellchecker.
On our way to Algeria for the blood-soaked local elections, someone from the foreign news desk of CBS called to see if we could send some of our footage back. When we told him that DP was going on a tourist visa and not as a heavily guarded journo he quickly hung up.
For more information concerning entry requirements, crazy travelers may contact:
Embassy of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria
2137 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Tel.: (202) 265-2800
Fax: (202) 265-1978
E-mail: embalgus@cais.com
The authors and publishers assume no liability nor do they encourage you to do, see, visit or try any of the activities or actions discussed in this site. This book is intended for background information only. ©2000 Robert Young Pelton. All rights reserved. This material is not to be reproduced or transmitted without the written permission of Pelton & Associates, Inc.
for more information see our official disclaimer