Riots erupted in an Algerian desert city this weekend after months of water scarcity left taps dry and forced inhabitants to queue for water for their homes.
Protesters wearing balaclavas set tires on fire and set up makeshift barricades blocking roads in Tiaret, a central Algerian city of less than 200,000 people located 155 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of Algiers, to protest water rationing.
The unrest followed demands from President bdelmajid Tebboune to rectify the suffering.
At a council of ministers meeting last week, he implored his cabinet to implement “emergency measures” in Tiaret.
The rioting comes as Tebboune is expected to vie for a second term as president of the oil-rich nation — Africa’s largest by area.
Climate change has devastated Northern Africa, making it one of the world’s most vulnerable regions. A multi-year drought has depleted crucial reservoirs and reduced the quantity of rainfall that has previously restored them.
The region, which is located on a semi-arid high desert plateau afflicted by excessive heat, receives its water from three dammed lakes that are dwindling as temperatures rise and less rain falls.
Algeria’s long-term solution would be to pipe water from larger dams further north and south of Tiaret and shift to alternate suppliers, such as desalination plants, in which the country has made significant investments.
In the meanwhile, authorities are attempting to import water from nearby sources.
