How I came to meet Algeria

By Midhat Osmanbegović

Former Director of Energoinvest in Algeria.

I was born and grew up in a country and a society where FREEDOM was a fundamental value. Every day, on the news, we followed the struggles of courageous peoples, ready to pay the highest price to win their freedom throughout the world and in particular in Algeria.

My earliest souvenirs, which are still very clear, of my early childhood are linked to the news on the struggle of the Algerian people to free themselves from more than a hundred years of slavery against one of the most powerful countries in the world, and with the high price they paid for their freedom.

We were proud of our country, the then Yugoslavia, and of our President Tito, who gave Algeria his unreserved support in this struggle. One form of support was to welcome the wounded Algerians who came to us for health treatment and who, once the fighting was over and victory had been achieved, stayed in our country as students in Belgrade, Zagreb or Sarajevo.   

Very soon after the independence, a group of professionals from Sarajevo were sent to Algeria to help set up a health system in the newly independent country. My cousin, a paediatrician who went to Algeria with his family for 2 years, was part of this group. His impressions, along with the experience of his wife and sons, were a valuable source of information about Algeria and, as they were all more than positive, they created in me a clear affection for the country and its people.

After graduating from university, I was lucky enough to find a job with one of the country's biggest companies at the time, Energoinvest, which was present all over the world, particularly in African countries. After my first professional experience in Iraq in 1991, I had the opportunity to come to Algeria for a year in the framework of a project to build a high-voltage electricity transmission line between Jijel and Ain Melila. For me, it was both a personal and professional challenge.

I had the opportunity to get to know another culture and tradition close to my own in many areas, as well as working in a system that was much more 'Europeanised' in its approach than in other countries in Africa and the Middle East. One major problem was my lack of knowledge of the Arabic and French languages, but I quickly overcame this thanks to the Algerians who tried to understand me by communicating in English.

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude and admiration to my colleagues at SONELGAZ : Mrs Foura, Kichou, Benachour, Khoukhi, Iminiguene, Abdellah .... and to my friends at the KAHRIF company in Médéa: Mrs Rahmani, Benkortbi, Bouaiche... I apologise to all those I forgot the names and have not mentioned here.

Very soon after my arrival in Algeria, my former homeland, which until then had consisted of 6 republics, split into several states. My native republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence, and since 6 April 1992 it started existing as an independent member state of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, the declaration of independence did not please the neighbouring countries, which had clearly expressed hegemonic aspirations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, and showed this very quickly by trying to annexe parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When they did not succeed in doing so peacefully, they perpetrated the most terrible attacks through their military and paramilitary units against the unarmed population, women, children, the elderly... Bosnia and Herzegovina began to experience, if I may put it this way, " the algerian history 1954-1962".

At this same time, terrorist attacks began in Algeria. They costed the lives of thousands of innocent people and caused extensive material damage and insecurity among algerian citizens. From April/May 1992, crimes against civilians in Algeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina intensified and the loss of human life began to increase, as well as the loss of lives in thousands, committed in the most monstrous ways.

In such a difficult situation for both countries, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Health asked help from the Algerian government to care of the wounded in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Algerian government immediately responded by setting up the "Support Committee for the People of Bosnia and Herzegovina", awarding 12 scholarships to students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and receiving a group of 59 injured people for treatment. Medical care was provided at three Hospitals; CHU Mustapha Pacha, CHU Salim Zemirli, CHU Douera, and the Azur Plage Rehabilitation Centre in Tixeraïne. The students who managed to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina and come to Algeria were able to study in Algiers and Oran.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my extreme gratitude and deep respect to my friends at the Algerian Ministry of Health, Dr Reda Merad and                     Dr Guennar, as well as to the eminent professors at the university hospitals, such as Professor Benjedou, Professor Boudjamaa, Professor Ait-Belkacem and Professor Nouar .... To the friends of the Observatoir National des Droits de l'Homme (National Human Rights Observatory) led by President Maitre R. Bara, the Algerian Red Crescent, Dr Bellaouane and Dr S. Ayachi. I cannot forget the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular Mr Daoud Antar and Mr Ogab. I met and interacted with all these persons when I was coordinating the Algerian aid and assistance effort with our Ambassador based in Tunis. 

A large number of Algerians came every day to visit the seriously wounded young men, offering them gifts, food, comfort and spending time with them. The meetings between the Algerian war veterans and the wounded young Bosnians were particularly touching. They revelled their own personal stories as they watched these young people sacrificing themselves and suffering for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Taking care of the wounded was a daily task for me, which included visiting all the hospitals where they were received, as well as meetings with all the persons involved in the aid effort - the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Red Crescent, the National Human Rights Observatory, etc.

At that time, a considerable number of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who had managed to escape from the area where the ethnic cleansing was taking place and whose family members were working in Algeria, came and the Algerian government immediately regularised their stay.

 At the end of the treatment, many of the injured asked for help to travel to Germany, Sweden and Norway to join their families who had found refuge in these countries. The Algerian government helped to obtain visas and organise transport. A large number of (recovering) soldiers from the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina remained in Algeria after the treatment completed, until the conditions for their return back to Bosnia and Herzegovina were set.

I met an Algerian woman, Dr Aida Hakimi, whom I married in December 1993, and in December 1994 we had a daughter, Amina, born at CHU Mustapha Pacha. I think that every algerian who reads this text will understand that it is written by a “compatriot”.

By order of Energoinvest, I returned to Sarajevo in July 1996 and, again by order of Energoinvest, I went back to Algeria in 2000, but this time with my family. My three daughters. Amina, Nur and Iman began their schooling in Algeria, where they made many friends with whom they are still in close contact today, more than 20 years later.

This second period was very different from my first stay from 1991 to 1996. Economic expansion had resumed in the country, state building was underway in all areas and progress could be seen almost on a daily basis. I am delighted that my work at Energoinvest has given me the opportunity to make a modest contribution to the development aspirations of the Algerian people, by cooperating with SONELGAZ and building transmission lines and stations throughout the country and all over Algeria: Sétif, Oran, Mostaganem, Ain Sefra, El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh, El Milia, Chlef... I'd like to say a big thank you to my friends at SONELGAZ-GRTE: Mrs Kinane, Bensalem, Ramdani, Waret, Medkour, Safsafi, Mmes. Kiboua, Negazzi, Zidane, Bendali, Bousmaha and my friends from the first days of my stay in this wonderful country: Mrs Khoukhi and Abdellah.

In all these towns and villages, all my colleagues had very friendly relations with the local population; I would like to mention the example of a colleague who worked in Oran and to whom neighbours brought his lunch every day during Ramadhan because they knew that as a Christian he had nowhere to eat, as the restaurants were closed during the day.

In conclusion, I have to admit that every souvenir of Algeria provokes in me a flow of emotions that require more than one text - one would not be enough - to list all the wonderful people I have met and that I can today proudly say that they are my friends.

Midhat Osmanbegović

    Former Director of Energoinvest in Algeria.