The Algerian authorities announced on Wednesday the 7th of June that they would «temporarily» cancel their plans of hosting the Syrian refugees stranded in the borders separating the two neighboring countries, le Monde reports. «The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not been able to reach a solution», spokesman of the Algerian Foreign Ministry Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said. The same person who announced Thursday 1st of June that Algeria will host a group of Syrian refugees blocked since April the 17th in Figuig. «Algeria wants them to pass through the border post, closed since 1994. Rabat wants them to take the path of the smugglers they have taken to enter», said Fouad Hassan, an Algerian activist. On Thursday, Algerian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdelaziz Benali Cherif announced that Algeria will host the group of Syrian refugees «blocked since April the 17th in Figuig». For Algeria, this is an «exceptional humanitarian gesture».
