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ALGIERS-Sporadic riots in OPEC member Algeria this year risk triggering wider protests against a political elite slow to turn unprecedented oil wealth into jobs and homes.Street clashes are a prickly issue in Algeria, a major gas exporter to Europe with a record of rebellion and where youth riots in 1988 forced the authorities to abandon one-party rule.The country of 33 million people is still searching for stability following an undeclared civil war in the 1990s that cost more than 150,000 lives. The violence erupted after the cancellation of a general election in 1992 which a now-outlawed Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.There is very little risk of a return to the bloodshed of the 1990s, Algerians say. But a return to nationwide civil disturbances that shook the north African country in 2001-02 and 1988 cannot be ruled out if violent protests continue."We have settled into a rioting phase which augurs no good," wrote the independent El Watan newspaper.Unemployed youths in the second city of Oran last week spent three days ransacking banks, shops, cars and bars and fighting running battles with helmeted riot police firing tear gas.PETTY THUGS
The immediate trigger was anger over the relegation of the town's soccer team to the second division. Commentators said that while the instigators may have been petty thugs, an atmosphere of despair over social ills helped draw in other youths and spread the turmoil to central districts.
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