In Amenas (Arabic: عين أمناس,[2]‘In ’Amanās) is a town and commune in eastern Algeria, bordering with Libya. The town is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of the border. There is no border crossing in the area. The municipality had 7,385 inhabitants in 2008,[1] up from 5.302 in 1998,[3] with an annual growth rate of 3.4%[1] According to the Algerian novelist Mouloud Mammeri the name is a Tuareg word which means "place of camel drivers."[4][5]
In Amenas has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classificationBWh). Summers are long and very hot with average high temperatures over 40 °C (104 °F) during June, July and August. Winters remain warm and brief at daytime but nights can be quite cold, with average low temperatures below 4 °C (39.2 °F) during January, the coolest month of the year. In Amenas averages annual rainfall of only 23.2 mm (0.91 in) as the town is located within the large central hyperarid core of the Sahara Desert. The sky is always clear over In Amenas throughout the year and the relative humidity is very low, especially during summer months.
In Amenas is the starting point of the In Amenas-Haoud El Hamra oil pipeline and the In Amenas-Hassi Messaoud gas pipeline.[10]
The natural gas joint development project (known as the In Amenas Gas Project) which includes four primary gas fields plus the gathering and processing facilities in Tiguentourine, 25 kilometres (16 mi) outside the town, was commissioned in 2006.[11] The project is operated by Sonatrach, BP, and Statoil.[12]Zarzaitine is one of the notable sites Sonatrach is operating in the area.
In January 2013, the Tigantourine gas facility was attacked by Islamist militants. At least 39 foreign hostages, along with an Algerian security guard, were killed when the facility was stormed after a four day stand-off.[13] A total of 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed.[14]
It was one of many attacks in the Maghreb carried out by Islamist groups since 2002.
7.0% of the population has a tertiary education, and another 16.9% has completed secondary education.[15] The overall literacy rate is 80.0%, and is 85.0% among males and 72.8% among females.[16]
^ abc"Population: Béchar Wilaya"(PDF) (in French). Office National des Statistiques Algérie. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^Wilaya of Ilizi in Official journals of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
^Jacqueline Arnaud, Poétiques croisées du Maghreb 1991 Université Paris-Nord. Centre d'études francophones, Jāmiʻat al-Jazāʼir. Equipe de recherches: Sémiologie du texte littéraire et analyse du discours - 1991 commentary on Mouloud Mammeri, La Traversée Page 72 "Il décrit l'oasis d'In Amenas: "Mourad, lui aussi, découvre le village fantôme, d'abord dans le Sahara, et ensuite en Kabylie. Il décrit l'oasis d'In Amenas: In Amenas veut dire en touareg le lieu des méharis. Ce n'était plus qu'une dérision. A la place des méharis ..."
^Mildred P. Mortimer Journeys through the French African novel 1990 commentary on Mouloud Mammeri, La Traversée - Page 124 "Tension between the irretrievable past and the impoverished present is presented by the contrast between memories of graceful camels and sights of awkward lumbering trucks: "In Amenas means in Tuareg the gathering place of camel drivers.."
Algeria
