The
Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
n government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 and 200,000 lives.
More than
70 journalistsThe working conditions of journalists in Algeria have evolved since the 1962 independence. After 1990, the Code of Press was suppressed, allowing for greater freedom of press. However, with the civil war in the 1990s, more than 70 journalists were assassinated, either by security forces or by...
were assassinated, either by security forces or by Islamists. The conflict effectively ended with a government victory, following the surrender of the Islamic Salvation Army and the 2002 defeat of the
Armed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is a Muslim organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
. However, low-level fighting still continues in some areas.
The conflict began in December 1991, when the
Islamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
(FIS) party gained popularity amongst the Algerian people and the
National Liberation FrontThe National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France....
(FLN) party, fearing the former's victory, cancelled
electionsThe Algerian National Assembly elections of 1991 were cancelled by a military coup after the first round, triggering the Algerian Civil War; the military expressed concerns that the FIS, which was almost certain to win more than the 2/3 majority of seats required to change the Algerian...
after the first round. At this time
the country's militaryThe military of Algeria is the direct successor of the Armée de Libération Nationale , the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front, which fought French colonial rule during the Algerian War of Independence...
effectively took control of the government, and president
Chadli BendjedidChadli Bendjedid was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He served in the French Army as a noncommissioned officer and fought in Indo-China when the rebellion began there in 1954. He defected to the National Liberation Front at the beginning of the Algerian War of...
was forced from office. After the FIS was banned and thousands of its members arrested, Islamist
guerrillasGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
rapidly emerged and began an armed campaign against the government and its supporters.
They formed themselves into several
armed groups, principally the Islamic Armed Movement] (MIA), based in the mountains, and the
Armed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is a Muslim organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
(GIA), based in the towns. The guerrillas initially targeted the
armyThe military of Algeria is the direct successor of the Armée de Libération Nationale , the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front, which fought French colonial rule during the Algerian War of Independence...
and police, but some groups soon started attacking civilians. In 1994, as negotiations between the government and the FIS's imprisoned leadership reached their height, the GIA declared war on the FIS and its supporters, while the MIA and various smaller groups regrouped, becoming the FIS-loyalist Islamic Salvation Army (AIS).
Soon after, the talks collapsed, and new
electionsPresidential elections were held in Algeria on November 16, 1995, in the midst of the Algerian Civil War. Liamine Zeroual was elected with 61.0 percent of the vote.-Candidates:*Liamine Zeroual: no party...
, the first since the 1992 coup d'état, were held—won by the army's candidate (himself a former active participant, as were a significant number of other military officials, in president Bendjedid's FLN government), General
Liamine ZéroualLiamine Zéroual was President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
. Conflict between the GIA and AIS intensified. Over the next few years, the GIA began a series of
massacres targeting entire neighborhoods or villages; some evidence also suggests the involvement of government forces. These massacres peaked in 1997 around the parliamentary elections, which were won by a newly created pro-Army party, the
National Democratic RallyTwo organisations currently use the name National Democratic Rally:#The National Democratic Rally of Senegal.#The National Democratic Rally of Syria....
(RND).
The AIS, under attack from both sides, opted for a unilateral ceasefire with the government in 1997, while the GIA was torn apart by splits as various subdivisions objected to its new massacre policy. In 1999, following the election of a new president,
Abdelaziz BouteflikaAbdelaziz Bouteflika has been the President of Algeria since 1999.- Family :Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born on March 2, 1937 in Oujda, French Morocco. He was the first child of his mother and the second child of his father...
, a new law gave amnesty to most guerrillas, motivating large numbers to "repent" (as it was termed) and return to normal life. The violence declined substantially, with effective victory for the government. The remnants of the GIA proper were hunted down over the next two years, and had practically disappeared by 2002.
A splinter group of the GIA, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), initially based on the fringes of
KabylieKabylie or Kabylia , is a historic and ethnic region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea...
, formed in 1998 to dissociate itself from the massacres. However, despite its former repudiation of attacking non-combatants, they "...eventually returned to killing civilians" and in October 2003, publicly endorsed
Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
. The GSPC rejected the amnesty and has continued to fight, although many individual members have surrendered. While as of 2006, its comparatively sparse activities - mainly in mountainous parts of the east - are the only remaining fighting in Algeria, a complete end to the violence is not yet in sight.
Liberalization: Prelude to war
By the end of 1987, the single-party socialist republic under which
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
had fared relatively well since the 1960s no longer seemed viable. The government had relied heavily on high
oilPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
prices, and when, in 1986, oil prices went from $30 to $10 a barrel, the planned economy came under severe strain, with shortages and unemployment rife. In October 1988 ("
Black OctoberThe 1988 October Riots were a series of street-level disturbances and riotous demonstrations by Algerian youth, in the autumn of 1988, which indirectly led to the fall of the country's single-party system and the introduction of democratic reform, but also to a spiral of instability and...
"), massive demonstrations against President
Chadli BendjedidChadli Bendjedid was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He served in the French Army as a noncommissioned officer and fought in Indo-China when the rebellion began there in 1954. He defected to the National Liberation Front at the beginning of the Algerian War of...
took place throughout Algerian cities, with an Islamist element prominent among the demonstrators. The army fired on the demonstrators, leaving some dead and shocking many.
The president's response was to make moves towards reform. In 1989, he brought in a new constitution which disestablished the ruling party, the
National Liberation FrontThe National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France....
(FLN), and made no mention of
socialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
, while promising "freedom of expression, association, and assembly". By the end of the year, a variety of political parties were being established and recognized by the government—among them, the
Islamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
(FIS).
The FIS incorporated a broad spectrum of Islamist opinion, exemplified by its two leaders. Its president,
Abbassi MadaniDr. Abbassi Madani , near Sidi-Okba, near Biskra, was the President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria. He is described by writers as having a gnomic appearance...
, a professor and ex-independence fighter, represented a relatively moderate religious conservatism and symbolically connected the party to the
Algerian War of IndependenceThe Algerian War, also known as the Algerian War of Independence or in , was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France...
, the traditionally emphasized source of the ruling
FLNThe National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France....
's legitimacy; he expressed tepid support for the concept of democracy and rejected the idea that it could override the
shariaSharia is an Arabic word meaning ‘way’ or ‘path’. In Arabic, the collocation ‘Šarīʿat Allāh’ is traditionally used not only by Muslims, but also Christians and Jews, sometimes translating expressions such as Torat Elōhīm [תורת אלוהים] or ‘ho nómos toû theoû' '’...
.
The vice-president,
Ali BelhadjAli Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria.Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s. He was imprisoned from 1983 to 1987...
, a younger and less educated
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
preacher who had already played a significant role in the October demonstrations, made aggressively radical speeches that rallied dissatisfied lower-class youth and alarmed non-Islamists with his clear-cut rejection of
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
and what they considered his repressive views on women. In February 1989, for example, Belhadj stated:
- There is no democracy because the only source of power is Allah through the Koran, and not the people. If the people vote against the law of God, this is nothing other than blasphemy. In this case, it is necessary to kill the non-believers for the good reason that they wish to substitute their authority for that of God.
The FIS rapidly became by far the biggest Islamist party, with a huge following concentrated especially in large urban areas. In 1990 they swept the
local electionsThe Algerian local elections of 1990 were the first multiparty elections to take place in independent Algeria.-APC Results:Turnout: 8,366,760 Valid votes cast: 7,984,788 -APW Results:...
with 54% of votes cast. The
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
further energized the party, as it outdid the government in gestures opposing Desert Storm.
In May 1991, the FIS called for a general strike to protest the government's redrawing of electoral districts, which it saw as a form of
gerrymanderingGerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape...
. The strike itself was a failure, but the huge demonstrations the FIS organized in Algiers were effective; the FIS was persuaded in June to call the strike off by the promise of fair parliamentary elections. Shortly afterwards, the increasingly alarmed government arrested Madani and Belhadj, along with a number of lower-ranking members. The party, however, remained legal, and passed to the effective leadership of
Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front, an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly elections...
.
The rise of the party continued. It eventually agreed to participate in the next elections, after expelling dissenters, such as Said Mekhloufi, who advocated direct action against the government. In late November, armed Islamists connected to the extremist Takfir wal Hijra attacked a border post at Guemmar, foreshadowing the conflict to come; otherwise, an uneasy calm prevailed. On December 26, the FIS handily won the
first round of parliamentary electionsThe Algerian National Assembly elections of 1991 were cancelled by a military coup after the first round, triggering the Algerian Civil War; the military expressed concerns that the FIS, which was almost certain to win more than the 2/3 majority of seats required to change the Algerian...
; with 48% of the overall popular vote, they won 188 of the 232 seats decided and an FIS government seemed inevitable.
Elections cancelled: a guerrilla war begins
The army saw this outcome as unacceptable. The FIS had made open threats against the ruling
pouvoir, condemning them as unpatriotic and pro-French, as well as financially corrupt. Additionally, FIS leadership was at best divided on the desirability of democracy, and some expressed fears that a FIS government would be, as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Edward DjerejianEdward P. Djerejian is a former United States diplomat who served in eight Administrations from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton He served as the United States Ambassador to Syria and Israel. He is the Founding Director of the James A...
put it, "one man, one vote, one time."
On January 11, 1992 the army cancelled the electoral process, forcing President
Chadli BendjedidChadli Bendjedid was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He served in the French Army as a noncommissioned officer and fought in Indo-China when the rebellion began there in 1954. He defected to the National Liberation Front at the beginning of the Algerian War of...
to resign and bringing in the exiled independence fighter Mohammed Boudiaf to serve as a new president. So many FIS members were arrested—5,000 by the army's account, 30,000 according to FIS, and including
Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front, an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly elections...
—that the jails had insufficient space to hold them in; camps were set up for them in the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
desert, and bearded men feared to leave their houses lest they be arrested as FIS sympathizers.
A
state of emergencyA state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties...
was declared, and many ordinary constitutional rights were suspended. Any protests that occurred were suppressed, and
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
organizations, such as
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
, reported frequent government use of
tortureTorture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of...
and holding of suspects without charge or trial. The government officially dissolved the FIS on March 4.
Of the few FIS activists that remained free, many took this as a declaration of war. Throughout much of the country, remaining FIS activists, along with some Islamists too radical for FIS, took to the hills with whatever weapons were available and became guerrilla fighters. Their first attacks on the security forces (not counting the Guemmar incident) began barely a week after the coup, and soldiers and policemen rapidly became targets.
As in previous wars, the guerrillas were almost exclusively based in the mountains of northern Algeria, where the forest and scrub cover were well-suited to guerrilla warfare, and in certain areas of the cities; the very sparsely populated but oil-rich Sahara would remain mostly peaceful for almost the entire duration of the conflict. This meant that the government's principal source of money—oil exporting—was largely unaffected.
The tense situation was compounded by the economy, which collapsed even further that year, as almost all of the longstanding subsidies on food were eliminated. The hopes many placed in the seemingly untainted figure of Boudiaf were soon dashed when he fell to a bullet from one of his own security guards in late June. Soon afterwards,
Abbassi MadaniDr. Abbassi Madani , near Sidi-Okba, near Biskra, was the President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria. He is described by writers as having a gnomic appearance...
and
Ali BelhadjAli Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria.Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s. He was imprisoned from 1983 to 1987...
were sentenced to 12 years in prison.
By August 26 it had become apparent that some guerrillas were beginning to target civilians as well as government figures: the bombing of the Algiers airport claimed 9 lives and injured 128 people. The FIS condemned the bombing along with the other major parties, but the FIS's influence over the guerrillas turned out to be limited.
The initial fighting appears to have been led by the small extremist group Takfir wal Hijra and associated ex-Afghan fighters. However, the first major armed movement to emerge, starting almost immediately after the coup, was the Islamic Armed Movement (MIA). It was led by the ex-soldier Abdelkader Chebouti, a longstanding Islamist who had kept his distance from the FIS during the electoral process. In February 1992, ex-soldier, ex-Afghan fighter, and former FIS head of security Said Mekhloufi founded the Movement for an Islamic State (MEI). The various groups arranged several meetings to attempt to unite their forces, accepting the overall leadership of Chebouti in theory. At the last of these, at Tamesguida on September 1, Chebouti expressed his concern about the movement's lack of discipline, in particular worrying that the Algiers airport attack, which he had not approved, could alienate supporters. Takfir wal Hijra and the Afghans (led by Noureddine Seddiki) responded by agreeing to join the MIA. However, the meeting was broken up by an assault from the security forces, provoking suspicions which prevented any further meetings.
The FIS itself established an underground network, with clandestine newspapers and even an MIA-linked radio station, and began issuing official statements from abroad starting in late 1992. However, at this stage the opinions of the guerrilla movements on the FIS were mixed; while many supported FIS, a significant faction, led by the "Afghans", regarded party political activity as inherently un-Islamic, and therefore rejected FIS statements.
1993
In January 1993,
Abdelhak LayadaAbdelhak Layada , also known as Abu Adlane, was one of the founders of Algeria's militant Islamist group Armed Islamic Group during the Algerian Civil War, and led it after the death of Mohamed Allel ....
declared his group independent of Chebouti's. The new faction was called the
Armed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is a Muslim organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
(GIA, from French
Groupe Islamique Armé). It became particularly prominent around Algiers and its suburbs, in urban environments. It took a hardline position, opposed to both the government and the FIS, affirming that "political pluralism is equivalent to sedition" and issuing death threats against several FIS and MIA leaders. It was far less selective than the MIA, which insisted on ideological training; as a result, it was regularly infiltrated by the security forces, resulting in a rapid leadership turnover as successive heads were killed.
In 1993, the divisions within the guerrilla movement became more distinct. The MIA and MEI, concentrated in the
maquis, attempted to develop a military strategy against the state, typically targeting the security services and sabotaging or bombing state institutions. From its inception on, however, the GIA, concentrated in urban areas, called for and implemented the killing of anyone supporting the authorities, including government employees such as teachers and civil servants. It assassinated journalists and intellectuals (such as
Tahar DjaoutTahar Djaout was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated by the rebel Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism. He was attacked on May 26, 1993, as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. He died on...
), saying that "The journalists who fight against Islamism through the pen will perish by the sword.".
It soon stepped up its attacks by targeting civilians who refused to live by their prohibitions, and later in 1993 began killing foreigners, declaring that "anyone who exceeds that period [a one-month deadline] will be responsible for his own sudden death." After a few conspicuous killings, virtually all foreigners left the country; indeed, (often illegal) Algerian emigration too rose substantially, as people sought a way out. At the same time, the number of
visasA visa is an indication that a person is authorized to enter the country which "issued" the visa, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
granted to Algerians by other countries began to drop substantially.
Failed negotiations and guerrilla infighting
The violence continued throughout 1994, although the economy began to improve during this time; following negotiations with the IMF, the government succeeded in rescheduling debt repayments, providing it with a substantial financial windfall, and further obtained some 40 billion francs from the international community to back its economic liberalization. As it became obvious that the fighting would continue for some time, General
Liamine ZéroualLiamine Zéroual was President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
was named new president of the
High Council of StateThe High Council of State in Algeria was a collective presidency set up by the military in 1992 following the annulled elections in December 1991.It consisted of:*General Khaled Nezzar *Ali Kafi*Ali Haroun*El-Tidjani Haddam*Mohamed Boudiaf...
; he was considered to belong to the
dialoguisteA dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. It is also a literary form in which two or more parties engage in a discussion.-Literary and philosophical genre:...
(pro-negotiation) rather than
éradicateur (
eradicatorIn the Algerian Civil War, a popular analysis divided the ruling generals into two factions. The eradicators were those who opposed negotiation with what they termed terrorists, preferring to "eradicate" them...
) faction of the army.
Soon after taking office, he began negotiations with the imprisoned FIS leadership, releasing some prisoners by way of encouragement. The talks split the political spectrum; the largest political parties, especially the socialist
FLNThe National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France....
and
KabyleKabyle refers to*the Kabyle people, an ethnic group in Algeria*the Kabyle language*the Kabyle ethnic homeland, a region called Kabylie in French*the Kabile city, an ancient Greek colony...
socialist
FFSThe Socialist Forces Front , , is a social democratic and secularist, political party in Algeria. It was formed in 1963 by Hocine Ait Ahmed...
, continued to call for compromise, while other forces—most notably the
General Union of Algerian WorkersThe General Union of Algerian Workers , usually called UGTA, is the main Algerian trade union, established February 24, 1956 with the objective of mobilizing Algerian labor against French rule...
(UGTA), but including smaller leftist and feminist groups such as the ultra-secularist
RCDThe Rally for Culture and Democracy , RCD, is a political party in Algeria. It promotes Laïcité and has its principal power base in parts of Kabylie, a Berber region...
—sided with the "eradicators". A few shadowy pro-government paramilitaries, such as the
Organisation of Young Free AlgeriansThe Organisation of Young Free Algerians claimed credit for various attacks against civilian Islamist sympathisers during the Algerian Civil War, claiming to be a pro-government armed group. It was active mainly in 1994 and 1995...
(OJAL), emerged and began attacking civilian Islamist supporters. On March 10, 1994, over 1000 (mainly Islamist) prisoners escaped Tazoult prison in what appeared to be a major coup for the guerrillas; later, conspiracy theorists would suggest that this had been staged to allow the security forces to infiltrate the GIA.
Meanwhile, under Cherif Gousmi (its leader since March), the GIA became the most high-profile guerrilla army in 1994. In May, the FIS suffered an apparent blow as several of its leaders that were not jailed, along with the MEI's Said Makhloufi, joined the GIA; since the GIA had been issuing death threats against them since November 1993, this came as a surprise to many observers, who interpreted it either as the result of intra-FIS competition or as an attempt to change the GIA's course from within.
On August 26, the GIA even declared a
caliphateThe term caliphate refers to the first form of government inspired by Islam. It was initially led by Muhammad's disciples as a continuation of the political authority the prophet established, known as the 'rashidun caliphates'. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah, and was the...
, or Islamic government, for Algeria, with Gousmi as "
Commander of the FaithfulThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transliterated version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
". However, the very next day, Said Mekhloufi announced his withdrawal from the GIA, claiming that the GIA had deviated from Islam and that this caliphate was an effort by ex-FIS leader Mohammed Said to take over the GIA. The GIA continued attacks on its usual targets, notably assassinating artists, such as
Cheb HasniCheb Hasni born Hasni Chakroun was a performer of Algerian Raï music. He was popular across North Africa, having reached the height of his career in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the son of a welder and grew up in a working class family where he was one of seven children...
, and in late August added a new practice to its activities: threatening insufficiently Islamist schools with
arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
.
FIS-loyal guerrillas, threatened with marginalization, attempted to unite their forces. In July 1994, the MIA, together with the remainder of the MEI and a variety of smaller groups, united as the Islamic Salvation Army (a term that had previously sometimes been used as a general label for pro-FIS guerrillas), declaring their allegiance to FIS and thus strengthening FIS's hand in the negotiations. By the end of 1994, they controlled over half the guerrillas of the east and west, but barely 20% in the center, near the capital, which was where the GIA were mainly based. They issued communiqués condemning the GIA's indiscriminate targeting of women, journalists and other civilians "not involved in the repression", and attacked the GIA's school arson campaign.
At the end of October, the government announced the failure of its negotiations with the FIS. Instead, Zéroual embarked on a new plan: he scheduled presidential elections for 1995, while promoting "eradicationists" such as Lamari within the army and organizing "self-defense militias" in villages to fight the guerrillas. The end of 1994 saw a noticeable upsurge in violence. Over 1994, Algeria's isolation deepened; most foreign press agencies, such as
ReutersReuters Group Limited is a UK-based, Canadian-controlled news service and former financial market data provider that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters. News reporting once accounted for less than 10% of the company's income. Its main focus was on supplying the...
, left the country this year, while the Moroccan border closed and the main foreign airlines cancelled all routes. The resulting gap in news coverage was further worsened by a government order in June banning Algerian media from reporting any terrorism-related news not covered in official press releases.
A few FIS leaders, notably Rabah Kebir, had escaped into exile abroad. Upon the invitation of the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio, in November 1994, they began negotiations in Rome with other opposition parties, both Islamist and secular (FLN, FFS, FIS, MDA, PT, JMC). They came out with a mutual agreement on January 14, 1995: the
Sant'Egidio platformThe Sant'Egidio Platform of January 13, 1995 was an attempt by most of the major Algerian opposition parties to put an end to the Algerian Civil War, which had begun in 1992 as a military coup d'état overturned election results that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front , an Islamic party,...
. This presented a set of principles: respect for human rights and multi-party democracy, rejection of army rule and dictatorship, recognition of
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
,
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
and
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
ethnic identity as essential aspects of Algeria's national identity, demand for the release of FIS leaders, and an end to extrajudicial killing and torture on all sides.
To the surprise of many, even Ali Belhadj endorsed the agreement, which meant that the FIS had returned into the legal framework, alongside with the other opposition parties. However, a crucial signatory was missing: the government itself. As a result, the platform's effect was at best limited - though some argue that, in the words of
Andrea RiccardiAndrea Riccardi is the founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio. "The Community of Saint Egidio was born in 1968 in Rome and is made up of more than 70,000 persons in more than 70 countries actively involved above all in evangelization and in the service to one’s neighbor, especially the most...
who brokered the negotiations for the Community of Sant’Egidio, “the platform made the Algerian military leave the cage of a solely military confrontation and forced them to react with a political act”, the 1995 presidential elections. The next few months saw the killing of some 100 Islamist prisoners in the
Serkadji prison mutinySerkadji prison is a high-security prison in Algiers, Algeria; in 1995, about two-thirds of the 1,500 prisoners detained there have been accused or convicted of terrorism.-Insurrection:...
, and a major success for the security forces in battle at
Ain DeflaAïn Defla is the capital city of Aïn Defla Province, Algeria. It is also a commune....
, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of guerrilla fighters.
Cherif Gousmi was eventually succeeded by
Djamel ZitouniAbou Abderahmane Amine, born Djamel Zitouni , was the leader of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group , a terrorist group responsible for carrying out a series of bombings in France in 1995....
as GIA head. Zitouni extended the GIA's attacks on civilians to French soil, beginning with the hijacking of
Air France Flight 8969Air France Flight 8969 was an Air France flight that was hijacked on 24 December 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group at Algiers, where they killed three passengers. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the GIGN, an intervention group of the French Gendarmerie, stormed the plane and killed all four...
at the end of December 1994 and continuing with several bombings and attempted bombings throughout 1995. In Algeria itself, he continued likewise, with car bombs and assassinations of musicians, sportsmen, and unveiled women, as well as the usual victims. Even at this stage, the seemingly counterproductive nature of many of its attacks led to speculation (encouraged by FIS members abroad) that the group had been infiltrated by Algerian secret services. The region south of
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
, in particular, came to be dominated by the GIA, who called it the "liberated zone". Later, it would come to be known as the "
Triangle of DeathDuring the Algerian Civil War, in particular the years 1997-1998, the name Triangle of Death was given to an area south of Algiers, whose "corners" were Algiers, Larbaa and Blida, where some of the worst massacres took place....
".
Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased, and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, assassinating a co-founder of the FIS,
Abdelbaki SahraouiAbdelbaki Sahraoui was a co-founder of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria.He was born in 1910 in Constantine, Algeria. In 1926, he joined the circle of Sheikh Mubarak el-Mili. Five years later, he was conscripted by the French army, where he spent two years. He then moved to Algiers, where...
, in Paris. At this point, foreign sources estimated the total number of guerrillas to be about 27,000.
Politics resume, militias emerge
Following the breakdown of negotiations with the FIS, the government decided to hold presidential elections. On November 16, 1995,
Liamine ZéroualLiamine Zéroual was President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
was elected president with 60% of votes cast. The
electionPresidential elections were held in Algeria on November 16, 1995, in the midst of the Algerian Civil War. Liamine Zeroual was elected with 61.0 percent of the vote.-Candidates:*Liamine Zeroual: no party...
, contested by many candidates, including the Islamists
Mahfoud NahnahMahfoud Nahnah was the leader of the Islamist political party Movement of Society for Peace in Algeria....
(25%) and Noureddine Boukrouh (<4%) and the secularist
Said SadiSaïd Sadi is an Algerian politician and President of the Rally for Culture and Democracy ....
(10%), but excluding FIS, enjoyed a high turnout (officially 75%, a number confirmed by most observers) despite the FIS, FFS and FLN's call for a boycott and the GIA's threats to kill anyone who voted (using the slogan "one vote, one bullet").
A high level of security was maintained, with massive mobilization during the period immediately leading up to election day. Foreign observers from the Arab League, the UN and the Organization of African Unity voiced no major reservations. While some cried foul, the elections were generally perceived by foreigners as quite free, and the results were considered reasonably plausible, given the limited choices available.
The results reflected various popular opinions, ranging from support for secularism and opposition to Islamism to a desire for an end to the violence, regardless of politics. Hopes grew that Algerian politics would finally be normalized. Zéroual followed this up by pushing through a new constitution in 1996, substantially strengthening the power of the president and adding a second house that would be partly elected and partly appointed by the president. In November 1996, the text was passed by a national referendum; while the official turnout rate was 80%, this vote was unmonitored, and the claimed high turnout was considered by most to be implausible.
The government's political moves were combined with a substantial increase in the pro-government militias' profile. "Self-defense militias", often called "Patriots" for short, consisting of trusted local citizens trained by the army and given government weapons, were founded in towns near areas where guerrillas were active, and were promoted on national TV . The program was received well in some parts of the country, but was less popular in others; it would be substantially increased over the next few years, particularly after the massacres of 1997.
The election results were a setback for the armed groups, who saw a significant increase in desertions immediately following the elections. The FIS' Rabah Kebir responded to the apparent shift in popular mood by adopting a more conciliatory tone towards the government, but was condemned by some parts of the party and of the AIS. The GIA was shaken by internal dissension; shortly after the election, its leadership killed the FIS leaders who had joined the GIA, accusing them of attempting a takeover. This purge accelerated the disintegration of the GIA:
Mustapha KartaliMustapha Kartali was the main Islamist guerrilla leader in the Larbaa region during the Algerian Civil War.Born in 1946, he was elected FIS mayor of Larbaa, a town south of Algiers, in 1991. After the military banned FIS, he joined the Armed Islamic Group's guerrillas in fighting the government,...
, Ali Benhadjar and
Hassan HattabHassan Hattab is the founder and first leader of the Algerian Islamist rebel group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ....
's factions all refused to recognize Zitouni's leadership starting around late 1995, although they would not formally break away until later. In December, the GIA killed the AIS leader for central Algeria, Azzedine Baa, and in January pledged to fight the AIS as an enemy; particularly in the west, full-scale battles between them became common.
Massacres and reconciliation
In July 1996 GIA leader
Djamel ZitouniAbou Abderahmane Amine, born Djamel Zitouni , was the leader of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group , a terrorist group responsible for carrying out a series of bombings in France in 1995....
was killed by one of the breakaway ex-GIA factions and was succeeded by
Antar ZouabriAntar Zouabri alias “Abou Talha Antar” or “Abou Talha″ was the leader of the Armed Islamic Group , a neo-Khawarij Muslim terrorist group in Algeria, between 1996 and 2002...
, who would prove an even bloodier leader.
Parliamentary electionsParliamentary elections were held in Algeria on June 5, 1997.They were dominated by the National Democratic Rally , a new party created in early 1997 for President Zéroual's supporters, which received some 32% of the vote and got 156 out of 380 seats...
were held on June 5, 1997. They were dominated by the
National Democratic RallyTwo organisations currently use the name National Democratic Rally:#The National Democratic Rally of Senegal.#The National Democratic Rally of Syria....
(RND), a new party created in early 1997 for Zéroual's supporters, which got 156 out of 380 seats, followed mainly by the
MSPThe Movement for the Society of Peace is an Islamist party in Algeria, led until his 2003 death by Mahfoud Nahnah. Its current leader is Bouguerra Soltani. It is aligned with the international Muslim Brotherhood...
(as Hamas had been required to rename itself) and the FLN at over 60 seats each. Views on this election were mixed; most major opposition parties filed complaints, and the success of the extremely new RND raised eyebrows. The RND, FLN and MSP formed a coalition government, with the RND's
Ahmed OuyahiaAhmed Ouyahia is an Algerian politician who has been Prime Minister of Algeria since June 2008. He was previously Prime Minister from 1995 to 1998 and from 2003 to 2006. A career diplomat, he also served as Minister of Justice, and was one of the founders and a president of the RND party...
as prime minister. There were hints of a softening towards FIS:
Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front, an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly elections...
was released, and
Abbassi MadaniDr. Abbassi Madani , near Sidi-Okba, near Biskra, was the President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria. He is described by writers as having a gnomic appearance...
moved to house arrest.
Village massacres
At this point, however, a new and vital problem emerged. Starting around April (the
Thalit massacreThe Thalit massacre took place in Thalit village , some 70 km from Algiers, on April 3-4 1997. 52 out of the 53 inhabitants were killed, having their throats slit by armed guerrillas who burned their houses afterwards. Smaller-scale massacres took place the same day at Amroussa, Sidi Naamane,...
), Algeria was wracked by massacres of intense brutality and unprecedented size; previous massacres had occurred in the conflict, but always on a substantially smaller scale. Typically targeting entire villages or neighborhoods and disregarding the age and sex of victims, GIA guerrillas killed tens, and sometimes hundreds, of civilians at a time.
These massacres continued through the end of 1998, changing the nature of the political situation considerably. The areas south and east of Algiers, which had voted strongly for FIS in 1991, were hit particularly hard; the
RaisThe Rais massacre, of August 29, 1997, was one of Algeria's bloodiest massacres of the 1990s. It took place at the village of Rais, near Larbaa and south of Algiers. The initial official death toll was 98 people killed and 120 wounded; CNN said that hospital workers and witnesses gave a toll of...
and
Bentalha massacreAt the village of Bentalha , about 15 km south of Algiers, on the night of September 22-23, 1997, more than 200 villagers were killed by armed guerrillas...
s in particular shocked worldwide observers. Pregnant women were sliced open, children were hacked to pieces or dashed against walls, men's limbs were hacked off one by one, and, as the attackers retreated, they would kidnap young women to keep as sex slaves. Although this quotation by Nesroullah Yous, a survivor of Bentalha, may be an exaggeration, it expresses the apparent mood of the attackers:
- "We have the whole night to rape your women and children, drink your blood. Even if you escape today, we'll come back tomorrow to finish you off! We're here to send you to your God!"
The GIA's responsibility for these massacres is undisputed; it claimed credit for both Rais and Bentalha (calling the killings an "offering to God" and the victims "impious" supporters of tyrants in a press release), and its policy of massacring civilians was cited by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat as one of the main reasons it split off from the GIA. At this stage, it had apparently adopted a
takfirIn Islamic law, takfir or takfeer refers to apostasy in Islam, or the practice of declaring oneself an unbeliever or kafir , previously considered Muslim...
ist ideology, believing that practically all Algerians not actively fighting the government were corrupt to the point of being
kafirKafir is an Arabic word meaning "rejecter" or "ingrate," also the term "Kuffar" the plural of the word "Kafir" is used to refer to peasants Surah 57 Al-Hadid Ayah 20; as they till earth and "cover up" seeds...
s, and could be killed righteously with impunity; an unconfirmed communiqué by Zouabri had stated that "except for those who are with us, all others are apostates and deserving of death." In some cases, it has been suggested that the GIA were motivated to commit a massacre by a village's joining the Patriot program, which they saw as evidence of disloyalty; in others, that rivalry with other groups (e.g.,
Mustapha KartaliMustapha Kartali was the main Islamist guerrilla leader in the Larbaa region during the Algerian Civil War.Born in 1946, he was elected FIS mayor of Larbaa, a town south of Algiers, in 1991. After the military banned FIS, he joined the Armed Islamic Group's guerrillas in fighting the government,...
's breakaway faction) played a part.
According to reports by
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE280361997?open&of=ENG-DZA and
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
http://www.hrw.org/worldreport99/mideast/algeria.html army barracks were stationed within a few hundred meters of the villages, yet did nothing to stop the killings. At about the same time, a number of people claiming to be defectors from the Algerian security services (such as Habib Souaidia), having fled to Western countries, alleged that the security services had themselves committed some of the massacres. These and other details raised suspicions that the state was in some way collaborating with, or even controlling parts of, the GIA (particularly through infiltration by the secret services) - a theory popularised by Nesroullah Yous, and FIS itself.
http://www.meforum.org/article/316 This suggestion provoked furious reactions from some quarters in Algeria, and has been rejected by many academics, though others regard it as plausible.
In contrast, Algerians such as Zazi Sadou, have collected testimonies by survivors that their attackers were unmasked and were recognised as local radicals - in one case even an elected member of the FIS.
Robert D. KaplanRobert David Kaplan is an American journalist, currently a National Correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly...
, writing in
The Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic is an American magazine founded as The Atlantic Monthly in Boston in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. Though based in Boston, it quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and...
, dismissed insinuations of government involvement in the massacres; "To people who had been watching Algeria's evolution, the assumption that sinister complicities within the Algerian state were involved in the assassinations and massacres was libelous." However, as Dr Youcef Bouandel notes; "Regardless of the explanations one may have regarding the violence, the authorities credibility has been tarnished by its non-assistance to endangered civilian villagers being massacred in the vicinity of military barracks."
The AIS, which at this point was engaged in an all-out war with the GIA as well as the government, found itself in an untenable position. The GIA seemed a more immediately pressing enemy, and AIS members expressed fears that the massacres—which it had condemned more than once—would be blamed on them. On September 21, 1997, the AIS' head, Madani Mezrag, ordered a unilateral and unconditional ceasefire starting October 1, in order to "unveil the enemy that hides behind these abominable massacres." The AIS thus largely took itself out of the political equation, reducing the fighting to a struggle between the government, the GIA, and the various splinter groups that were increasingly breaking away from the GIA. Ali Benhadjar's FIS-loyalist Islamic League for Da'wa and Jihad (LIDD), formed in February 1997, allied itself with the AIS and observed the same ceasefire. Over the next three years, the AIS would gradually negotiate an amnesty for its members.
GIA destroyed, GSPC continues
After receiving much international pressure to act, the
EUThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
sent two delegations, one of them led by
Mário SoaresMário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares,
GColTE,
GCC,
GColL,
KE , Portuguese politician, served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996.-Background:Soares...
, to visit Algeria and investigate the massacres in the first half of 1998; their reports condemned the Islamist armed groups. Towns soon became safer, although massacres continued in rural areas. The GIA's policy of massacring civilians had already caused a split among its commanders, with some rejecting the policy; on September 14, 1998, this disagreement was formalized with the formation of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), based in the mountains west of Kabylie and led by
Hassan HattabHassan Hattab is the founder and first leader of the Algerian Islamist rebel group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ....
.
On September 11, Zéroual surprised observers by announcing his resignation. New elections were arranged, and on April 15, 1999, the army-backed ex-independence-fighter
Abdelaziz BouteflikaAbdelaziz Bouteflika has been the President of Algeria since 1999.- Family :Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born on March 2, 1937 in Oujda, French Morocco. He was the first child of his mother and the second child of his father...
was elected president with, according to the authorities, 74% of the votes. All the other candidates had withdrawn from the election shortly before, citing fraud concerns. Bouteflika continued negotiations with the AIS, and on June 5 the AIS agreed, in principle, to disband. Bouteflika followed up this success for the government by pardoning a number of Islamist prisoners convicted of minor offenses and pushing the Civil Harmony Act through parliament, a law allowing Islamist fighters not guilty of murder or rape to escape all prosecution if they turn themselves in.
This law was finally approved by referendum on September 16, 1999, and a number of fighters, including
Mustapha KartaliMustapha Kartali was the main Islamist guerrilla leader in the Larbaa region during the Algerian Civil War.Born in 1946, he was elected FIS mayor of Larbaa, a town south of Algiers, in 1991. After the military banned FIS, he joined the Armed Islamic Group's guerrillas in fighting the government,...
, took advantage of it to give themselves up and resume normal life—sometimes angering those who had suffered at the hands of the guerrillas. FIS leadership expressed dissatisfaction with the results, feeling that the AIS had stopped fighting without solving any of the issues; but their main voice outside of prison,
Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front, an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly elections...
, was assassinated on November 22. Violence declined, though not stopping altogether, and a sense of normality started returning to Algeria.
The AIS fully disbanded after January 11, 2000, having negotiated a special amnesty with the government. The GIA, torn by splits and desertions and denounced by all sides even in the Islamist movement, was slowly destroyed by army operations over the next few years; by the time of
Antar ZouabriAntar Zouabri alias “Abou Talha Antar” or “Abou Talha″ was the leader of the Armed Islamic Group , a neo-Khawarij Muslim terrorist group in Algeria, between 1996 and 2002...
's death in early 2002, it was effectively incapacitated. The government's efforts were given a boost in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks; United States sympathy for Algeria's government increased, and was expressed concretely through such actions as the freezing of GIA and GSPC assets and the supply of infrared goggles to the army.
With the GIA's decline, the GSPC was left as the most active rebel group, with about 300 fighters in 2003. It continued a campaign of assassinations of police and army personnel in its area, and also managed to expand into the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
, where its southern division, led by
Amari SaifiAmari Saifi, also known under his aliases Abou Haidara or Abderrazak El Para, is one of the leaders of the Islamist militia Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ....
(nicknamed "Abderrezak el-Para", the "paratrooper"), kidnapped a number of German tourists in 2003, before being forced to flee to sparsely populated areas of
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
, and later
NigerNiger , officially the Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and
ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, where he was captured. By late 2003, the group's founder had been supplanted by the even more radical
Nabil SahraouiNabil Sahraoui , alias Mustapha Abou Ibrahim was an Algerian Islamist militant, and the head of the radical Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat from August 2003 until his death the following year.In 2003 he pleged allegiance as GSPC leader to Usama bin Ladin's Al Qaeda...
, who announced his open support for
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
, thus strengthening government ties between the U.S. and Algeria. He was reportedly killed shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by Abou Mossaab Abdelouadoud in 2004.
2004 presidential election and the amnesty
The release of FIS leaders Madani and Belhadj in 2003 had no observable effect on the situation, illustrating a newfound governmental confidence which would be deepened by the
2004 presidential electionPresidential elections were held in Algeria on April 8 2004. The incumbent president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was re-elected with 85.0 percent of the vote.-Candidates:*Ali Benflis: candidate of the Front for National Liberation...
, in which Bouteflika was reelected by 85% with support from two major parties and one faction of the third major party. The vote was seen as confirming strong popular support for Bouteflika's policy towards the guerrillas and the successful termination of large-scale violence.
In September 2005
a national referendumThe 2005 Algerian national reconciliation referendum took place in Algeria on 29 September 2005. The referendum was held on a Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation which had been drawn up to try and bring closure to the Algerian Civil War...
was held on an
amnestyAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent persons. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense. The word has the same root as amnesia...
proposal by Bouteflika's government, similar to the 1999 law, to end legal proceedings against individuals who were no longer fighting, and to provide compensation to families of people killed by government forces. The controversial
Charter for Peace and National ReconciliationThe Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation was a charter proposed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in an attempt to bring closure to the Algerian Civil War by offering an amnesty for most violence committed in it...
was declared to have won with 97% support, and with 80% of participation. The conditions of the campaign in Algeria were criticized in the French press, in particular in
Le MondeLe Monde is a French daily evening newspaper with a circulation of 371,803. It is considered the French newspaper of record, and is generally well respected, often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-Francophone countries....
and
L'HumanitéL'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International ....
.
Lawyer Ali Merabet, for example, founder of
Somoud, a NGO which represents the families of the disappeared, was opposed to the Charter which would “force the victims to grant forgiveness”. He remains wary that the time of the FIS has truly ended and notes that while people no longer support them, the project of the FIS - which he denies is Islamic - still exists and remains a threat.
The proposal was implemented by Presidential decree in February 2006, and adopted on September 29, 2006. Particularly controversial was its provision of immunity against prosecution to surrendered ex-guerrillas (for all but the worst crimes) and Army personnel (for any action "safeguarding the nation".) According to Algerian paper
El Khabar, over 400 GSPC guerrillas surrendered under its terms; estimates of the GSPC's size in 2005 had ranged from 300 to 1000. The
International Federation of Human RightsThe International Federation of Human Rights aka Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations....
(FIDH) has opposed the amnesty
The fighting has continued to die down but a state of emergency remains in place.
See also
- Timeline of the Algerian Civil War
The Algerian Civil War was a conflict in Algeria, starting in 1992 and continuing to a diminished extent up to the present.-1991:* November 27 - Two Islamists who had fought in Afghanistan, Aïssa Messaoudi and Abderrahmane Dahane, attack a border post at Guemmar, killing soldiers and foreshadowing...
- List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
- Censorship in Algeria
The working conditions of journalists in Algeria have evolved since the 1962 independence. After 1990, the Code of Press was suppressed, allowing for greater freedom of press. However, with the civil war in the 1990s, more than 70 journalists were assassinated, either by security forces or by...
- Human rights in Algeria
In its annual country report on human rights in Algeria practices released March 2006, the U.S. Department of State noted the persistence of a number of human rights problems in Algeria but credited the government with having taken several significant steps to strengthen human rights in 2005...
- Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian War of Independence or in , was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France...
External links