Journalists felt more secure perhaps than at any time since suspected armed militants launched a vicious assassination campaign in 1993, claiming the lives of 58 journalists between 1993 and 1996. I go shopping where I live. I feel secure. The pressure and terrorism has really subsided. Still, journalists remain cautious in their daily routine, fearful of a possible resumption of attacks.
Hundreds remain housed in cramped, government-run hotels under armed guard.
Indicative of their safety concerns were the vehement protests of a government attempt in July to relocate some 70 journalists from the government-run Mazafran Hotel in the town of Zaralda. Journalists argued that the proposed location, the Matares Hotel in Tipaza, would jeopardize their security because of its considerable distance from the capital, where most regularly commute to work. Four journalists went on a hunger strike that lasted more than three weeks, while privately run newspapers observed a one-day strike in a show of solidarity with their colleagues. The government eventually acquiesced to the pressure, accommodating the journalists at the Al-Manar Hotel in Sidi Faraj.