Aghrib

Aghribs is a village and commune in the Kabylie region of Algeria. It is located 40 km north east of Tizi Ouzou and approximately 150 km east of Algiers. The village is at an altitude of 800 metres above sea level and at a distance of 10 km from the Mediterranean Sea.

As a village, Aghribs is home to about 2000 people. It is the birthplace of Said Sadi, the co-founder and ex-president of the RCD, the Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Democratie. As of April 2013, the village oldest resident is Mr. Said Ameur, who is 104.

Although archives are inexistent, it is a well established fact that Aghribs was founded by a family or families that left the village of Adrar, a village just a few kilometres away. Today, Aghribs's main families are : Ameur, Ait Lounis, Belkacem, Ait Amara, Ait Yahya, Sadi (or Saadi), Meziani, Laimeche, Tamani, Aider and Ait Aider. In addition to these long established families, many others have joined the village in recent years.

The village school is one of the first schools opened in Kabylie by the old colonial power, France, opening its doors for the first time in 1892. During the war of independence (1954 -1962) Aghribs served as military camp for the French army. Parts of the school were used as a prison and interrogation centre.

After Algeria's independence in 1962, and until 1972, the military barracks were used as an orphanage for hundreds of children, orphaned by the war, who came from all over Kabylie. As a result, thousands of Kabyle children were educated at the village school.

Administratively, Aghribs has seen many changes. From a Commune in its own right under the French, it became part of the commune of Freha in 1962. In 1984, following a national electoral boundary reorganisation, the village became a commune. The town hall is now located in the new town of Aguni Cherqi, a couple of kilometres outside the village.