Still, U.S. Ambassador Cameron Hume said, the overall level of violence is down from the past decade. Residents of this capital take to the streets day and night, no longer in mortal fear. They never send more than five people here because they can't spend more than 24 hours in the capital without being caught. The civilians have become vigilant and turn them in. Some guerrilla strongholds remain in the mountains southeast of Algiers and on the Moroccan border in the southwest.
Security remains a serious problem on the capital's outskirts, too.
Even on the edges of Algiers, fake roadblocks are used to launch attacks, making it dangerous to travel outside the city. As Algeria tries to find its way out of a dark decade, the country remains racked by many of the ills that contributed to the conflict. The eight-year battle with the guerrillas continues to steal precious resources. Seven in 10 Algerians are younger than 30. Thirty percent are jobless.