"Our embassy in Algiers does not wish to evacuate and repatriate our citizens from the country because they still feel safe there," Indonesian Ambassador to Algeria Yuli Mumpuni Widarso said on Sunday.
Speaking to ANTARA in a phone interview from Cairo, Yuli said there were about 1,187 Indonesians in Algeria, including 75 diplomats and local staffers of the embassy and their family members.
Most of the Indonesian citizens were registered as migrant workers in Algiers. All of them were men who mostly worked in the construction and infrastructure sectors. Some worked at private companies, she said.
Despite the anti-government rallies demanding for a change of the change, the condition in Algiers was relatively conducive and secure, she said.
"The security condition remains conducive because President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has successfully halted the anti-government rallies by meeting the demonstrators` demands," she said.
One of the demonstrators` main demands that the government had met was lowering prices of staple food, Ambassador Yuli Mumpuni Widarso said.
A day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, Algerian protesters staged a rally.
According to Algerian national TV station, the rally was joined by just 250 people.
Instead, the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD) which demanded a regime change in Algiers had estimated that the rally was joint by several thousand protesters.
The mainstream media in the Middle East reported that the Algerian government anticipated growing anti-government rallies by deploying tanks to main streets of the capital.
Political analysts argued that the anti-government rallies in Algiers were the domino effect of political turmoils in Tunisia and Egypt.
The anti-government protesters in Tunisia succeeded in ousting President Zine Al Abidin Bin Ali on January 14, while those in Egypt finally forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down on February 11.
About 300 Egyptian protesters were killed during the 18-day rallies.
For security reasons and protection of Indonesian citizens in Egypt, the Indonesian government has temporarily evacuated Indonesians, including students, from the country. (*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
