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Military Regimes, Political Power and Human Rights Violations in Postcolonial Algeria A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Policy at The University of Waikato by YASSINE BELKAMEL 2014 Dedication I dedicate this work to my lovely parents, Omar and Rachida, and to my lovely family: my wife, Dr. Naima, and my kids, Takie and Ilyes ii Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Professor Daniel Zirker for his supervision, patience and support over the last few years. I thank him sincerely for the effort that he put into his supervision of this lengthy project. I also extend my gratitude to Professor Allen Simpson, who gave continuous support and followed my work closely, offering many very helpful comments and corrections. I would like to thank my previous supervision panel at the University of Waikato Law School, and especially Dr. Radha D’Souza, as well as Dr. Tom Ryan in Anthropology, and the many other people who offered help, support and encouragement in the completion of this work. Special thanks must go to the people who participated directly in this research. I was deeply touched by the warm welcome and valuable assistance that I received from them on each occasion that I needed their help in completing part of the research. A special thanks in this regard goes to Professor Abdelhamid Brahimi, the ex-prime minister of Algeria, for his honest and insightful information which I incorporated in this thesis. My gratitude also goes to all the members of the Rachad Organization for Human Rights, in Switzerland, and especially Professor Morad Dhina, Professor Abbas Aroua, and to the former Algerian diplomat, Mohammed Larbi Zitout, in London. My appreciation also goes to members of Le Mouvement Algérien des Officiers Libres (the Algerian Movement of Free Officers) in London, who gave me access to secret files containing vital information regarding the military regime after Independence. Also, Thanks to Dr. Nasser Eddine Haddam (USA), Professor Salah Eddine Sidhum (Human Rights defender - Algeria), and Ahmed Zaoui, former FIS MP, who gave me invaluable testimony, as well as significant time and energy. I had the great good fortune to speak to former military officers, including Colonel Mohammed Samraoui (DRS), Ahmed Chouchane (special forces), and others too numerous to mention here, who did not hesitate to share their knowledge with me. FIS lawyer Rachid Masli divulged important information regarding the political crisis in Algeria during the 1990s. I must, of course, thank all of my family for being there when I needed them during the research and writing of this thesis. Most of all, I must thank my parents and my wife for their support, and I must equally apologize to my children, Takie and Ilyes, for the extensive time that I spent away from them, researching and writing this thesis. Additionally, thanks to Professor Stephen Hoadley and Professor George Joffe, my external examiners, for their sympathetic and firm insistence that this work reflect my very best efforts. Finally, my deep appreciation and thanks go to the staff of Waikato University Library, the Library of the School of Political Science and Public Policy, and the British Archive for great assistance that I received here in Hamilton, New Zealand, and in the UK. iii ABSTRACT Following Algeria’s bloody war of independence, a new, revolutionary military establishment gradually formed out of several largely independent revolutionary units, stationed mostly on Algeria’s borders. It soon expanded with the addition of revolutionary fighters from within Algeria, and from French-trained forces, many of whom had fought against the revolutionary forces during the Revolution, and had deserted late in the war from the French military to join the new Algerian military. A particularly powerful group of officers emerged from the latter group, the “French Officers,” who apparently engaged in a long-term and ultimately successful bid for national political power. This thesis, which is concerned with the politics behind the massive human rights violations in Algeria, particularly the periods immediately after Independence, and between 1991 and 2002, the “Algerian Civil War,” seeks to explore a central question: why did the Algerian military turn against its own people? While not denying the role of other groups (e.g., religious groups, ethnic groups) in the violence, the central focus of this thesis is on the distinctive and effective structure and role of the military, which was apparently the dominant political power in Algeria after Independence, and particularly on the role of the French Officers, who appear to have manipulated the presidency through coups d’état and assassinations, in their struggle to achieve political hegemony in Algeria by the 1990s. Central to this was the role played after Independence by Houari Boumédiène in establishing political and military organisations that were particularly susceptible to the growing influence of the French Officers. Central topical foci of the thesis include examinations of the possible effects (on the central question, listed above) of: professionalization of the military; civil-military relations; historical influences; ethnic and religious influences; political parties and party formation; corruption and economic opportunism; international relations and continuing French influence; and the unique role of the French Officers in the national politics of Algeria. Methodologies used in this study included the analysis of elite (non-random) interviews, based upon a questionnaire approved by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, which the author conducted in Europe and via “Skype” with nearly two dozen prominent Algerian expatriates, for the most part in exile, including former civilian leaders and military officers. Historical analysis was also a central part of the methodology, as well as discourse analysis applied to significant memoirs and newspaper accounts. The thesis concludes that the immediate self-interests of the French Officers had a determinate effect on politics in Algeria, and particularly on the way in which the military turned against its own people after 1991. The continuing support that the French Officers apparently received from France, while not unexpected, is surprising in its extent and continuity, particularly after acts of terrorism thought to be linked to the Algerian government occurred in France. An unexpected finding of this research is the significance of corruption and economic opportunism in the Algerian military regime’s long-term strategy. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Table of Contents v Glossary and Abbreviations viii CHAPTER ONE 2 Introduction 2 1. Preface 2 2. Background 6 3. An Overview of the Case Study 10 4. Comparative Themes and Issues 17 5. Methodology 23 5.1. Historical Method 24 5.2. Qualitative Elite Interviews 24 5.3. Discourse Analysis 26 5.4. International humanitarian intervention: theory and practice 27 5.5. International humanitarian interventions after 9/11 28 CHAPTER TWO 31 A Brief Review of Algerian History 31 Introduction 31 I. Algeria before the War or Independence 32 1. Introduction 32 2. The French Invasion and the Algerian Resistance 34 3. French Rule in Algeria 38 4. The Algerian Political Resistance 44 4.1. The Star of North Africa, the Federation of Elites and the Algerian Popular Union 45 4.2. The Islamic Association of Algerian Scholars (AUMA), 1931 50 5. The Massacres of 8 May 1945 55 6. The Outbreak of the Algerian Revolution, 1954 59 II. The FLN Conferences and the Road to Independence 63 1. The Algerian Nationalists (FLN) and the Revolution of 1954 63 2. The Soummam Valley Congress, August, 1956 66 3. The Algerian Revolution and the Power of General de Gaulle 76 4. The CCE and the GPRA: The Negotiations Approach 81 5. De Gaulles’s Plan, and Algerian Independence: 1960 – 1962 83 6. Evian and the Proclamation of the Cease-Fire 86 7. The Proclamation of Independence, 5 July 1962 87 8. Independence 90 CHAPTER THREE 93 The Military and the Structuring of Violence in Algeria 93 1. Introduction 93 2. Historical background of the post-independence era 94 3. The Role of the Military in the Proliferation of Violence 98 3.1. The Conflict among Revolutionary Leaders and the Origin of the Military in Algeria 105 3.2. Military Intervention and Political Algeria after Independence 113 4. The Role of Military in the Clash of October 1988 in Algeria and the formation of FIS 117 4.1. A Fight for Power at the Summit 118 4.2. The Period of Boumédiène and the Structure of the Military 119 4.3. The Process 125 4.4. French Military Officers and their Role in the Violence 131 4.5. The Role of the Professional Army in the Violence in Algeria 135 4.6. Professionalism and the Algerian Military at Independence 139 4.7. Expectations of violence under professional army leadership 154 CHAPTER FOUR 160 FRENCH PENETRATION OF ALGERIA 160 1. Introduction 160 2. Penetration and International Relations 162 2.1. International Penetration of Domestic Systems: Theoretical Studies 165 2.2.