By Faith Nyasuguta
Wildfires in Algeria are still raging with 90 people reported to have been killed in the fires by Monday.
With 19 blazes still raging in the North of the country, Algerian firefighters are struggling to put them off.
According to the emergency services department, the teams are working on extinguishing the 19 wildfires in 10 provinces.
It confirmed that six fires were still ablaze in Bejaia province, three in El Tarf and two in Tizi Ouzou, the worst-hit province where entire villages were burnt down.
The government has linked the incident to arsonists and a blistering heatwave for scores of blazes that have raged the country’s north since Monday last week.
However, experts have criticized responsible authorities over the failure to prepare for the yearly phenomenon.
Reports from local authorities indicate that so far, the wildfires have killed some 90 people, including 33 soldiers.
By surface area, Algeria is Africa’s largest country despite most of the interior being a desert.
The nation’s north area has over four million hectares (10 million acres) of the forest, a region ravaged by fires every summer.
In 2020, some 44,000 hectares went up in flames.
