Algerians face an uneasy life in France

AS the train goes further into "the zone" the working class suburbs around Paris more graffiti cover the walls and more vacant lots are stacked with wrecked cars. Two factories spew smoke in Rania and Boualem's tower block village.

"You never see a French born person here," Rania explained. "There are Africans, Arabs Turks, Indians, Portuguese and Spanish. But no French people."

It was the 12th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. For their evening feast that breaks the dawn to sunset fast, Boualem and his neighbour Fodil had gone in to Barbe's, the Algerian quarter of Paris, to buy zlabia, flat bread and honey soaked pastries.

"Zlabia is a speciality of Boufarik," Rania said. "You know, Boufarik, where the car bomb killed 14 people last week."

There are four million Muslims in France, making Islam the country's second religion. Islam is their identity, Rania and Boualem told me. The opening verse of the Quran hangs on the wall beside the front door of their small apartment. At sunset, Rania covered her head with a scarf. The couple and their three year old daughter Hadia knelt prostrate on the floor, facing Mecca to say their evening, prayers.

"I wish I could pray," the neighbour Fodil said. "But I do bad things like drink alcohol, and it doesn't go together. I'm afraid if I start praying and then stop, it will be worse than if I'd never done it. It's got to be all or nothing."

As Rania served Algerian soup made of lamb, tomatoes and cracked wheat, and fritters' stuffed with minced meat and parsley, a satellite dish transmitted religious programmes from Algiers. "It gives us the feeling of home," Boualem explained. In Algiers, members of his family watch French television because they don't trust the government run stations.

"Ramadan is a time to come closer to God," Boualem said. "A time for Muslims to learn more about their religion and read the Quran." Ramadan is special even for the non practising Fodil: "We say the devil is tied up during Ramadan. He can't hurt you or tempt you."

These Algerian immigrants despise both the regime and the fundamentalist rebels back home. They worry constantly about the safety of their families. "The fundamentalists say everything is Izaram (sinful)," Rania said. "But they slash people's throats. Isn't that haram?"

Fodil wonders whether it really is the Islamists who do these things. "They attack more during Ramadan. That proves they're not real Muslims," Boualem said.

The telephone rang. "A bomb just went off in a cultural centre in Algiers," Rania announced when she came back. A neighbour had called to tell her. Sixteen dead. Everyone looked at the floor in silence. "The first thing you do when you hear about a bomb or a massacre is find out where it happened," Fodil said finally.

"If it's near your home, you telephone right away." Rania joined in: "If they attacked rich neighbourhoods we might understand it - the heights above Algiers where the ministers live. But they attack poor people."

Fodil left Algeria in the summer of 1992, after the assassination of President Boudiaf. "I realised it was going to get worse," he said. "If you say what you think there, one misplaced word and you're dead."

But life in France is not easy. Fodil has been unable to obtain residence papers. "You live like a fugitive. I watch policemen everywhere I go as if I were a wanted man. My life has been on hold for five years."

When she can find work, Rania cleans shops or sews. Boualem is a security guard. Their families back in Algeria envy them, but the couple still find life difficult. Rania wears the hijab (Islamic head covering) in Algeria, but not in France.

"They look down on you if you wear a scarf here," she said. "They let nuns wear habits. They accept Christians with crucifixes and Jews in skullcaps, but not Muslim women in scarves.

Attacks by Algerian extremists in France have led many French people to regard all Algerians with suspicion. "As soon as there's a problem here, they blame the immigrants," Boualem said. "My father and grandfather worked in this country. My grandfather fought in the French army in the 1914-1918 war. After that he worked in the mines. My father laid track for the SNCF (railway company).

"The immigrants built France. They dug the metros. Even now it's north Africans who maintain the metros. Despite all this, every time there's a problem, they blame the immigrants. We'll never feel at home here.