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Issue Paper ALGERIA POLITICAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE November 1996
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment. All sources are cited. This document is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. For further information on current developments, please contact the Research Directorate.
Table of Contents
MAP
GLOSSARY
1. INTRODUCTION
2. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
3. MAIN ARMED ISLAMIST GROUPS
3.1 Islamic Salvation Army (AIS)
3.2 Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
3.2.1 Internal Rivalries
3.3 Relationships Among Islamist Groups
3.3.1 FIS-AIS
3.3.2 FIS-GIA
3.3.3 AIS-GIA
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4. INCIDENTS OF ISLAMIST VIOLENCE
4.1 Car Bombings
4.2 Attacks Against Educational Institutions
5. GROUPS AT RISK OF ARMED ISLAMIST ATTACKS
5.1 Security Forces Personnel and Their Families
5.2 Media Personnel
5.3 Government Officials
5.4 Foreigners
5.5 Women
5.6 Other Groups at Risk
6. STATE RESPONSE
6.1 Counter -militant Operations
6.2 Curfew
6.3 Legal Sanctions
6.3.1 Amnesty Law and Clemency
6.4 Military Service
6.5 Communal Guards and Self -Defence Groups
6.6 Human Rights Violations by Security Forces
6.7 Limitations on Freedom of Expression
7. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
APPENDIX: List of Main Cabinet Ministers
REFERENCES
MAP
See original.
Source: Labat, Séverine, October 1995. Les Islamistes algérien: entre les urnes et le maquis. Paris: Editions du Seuil.
GLOSSARY
AIS Islamic Salvation Army (Armée islamique du salut)
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FFS Socialist Forces Front (Front des forces socialistes) FIS Islamic Salvation Front (Front islamique du salut) FLN National Liberation Front (Front de libération nationale) GIA Armed Islamic Group (Groupe islamique armé) LADDH Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (Ligue algérienne de défense des droits de l'homme) MDA Movement for Democracy in Algeria (Mouvement pour la démocratie d'Algérie) MEI Islamic State Movement (Mouvement pour l'État islamique) MRI-Ennahda Islamic Renaissance Movement-Ennahda (Mouvement de la renaissance islamique- Ennahda) MSI-Hamas Islamic Society Movement-Hamas (Mouvement de la société islamique-Hamas) ONDH National Observatory for Human Rights (Observatoire national des droits de l'homme) PRA Algerian Renewal Party (Parti pour le renouveau de l'Algérie) RCD Rally for Culture and Democracy (Rassemblement pour la culture et la démocratie)
*The names of these groups have been translated from the French. These are not official translations, however, as English has no official status in Algeria.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is an account of the situation in Algeria between mid-March 1995 and May 1996. It updates the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper entitled Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , which contains background information on the Islamist movement as well as information on events in Algeria between early 1992, when the conflict between the state and armed Islamists erupted, and March 1995.
In this paper, references are made to specific Islamist groups wherever possible. However, most sources do not make such distinctions and refer only to "Islamist groups," "armed criminals" or "terrorists" when describing events. Human Rights Watch also mentions the possibility that some of the civilian killings "officially attributed" to armed Islamist groups may have been committed by "criminal or other groups whose links to the Islamist movement were tenuous at best" (HRW 1995, 263). Similarly, Amnesty International states that, while the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe islamique armé — GIA) (see section 3.2) claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against civilians in 1995, it was impossible to authenticate these claims (AI 1996, 73).
Further, the killing of journalists by Islamist groups (see section 5.2) and government-
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imposed media censorship (see section 6.6) "have all but stopped reliable reporting on Algeria's civil crisis," according to one source (IPS 2 June 1995).
2. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
[1] In early April 1995 President-in-transition Liamine Zeroual launched consultations with several opposition parties to discuss an agenda for future presidential elections ( Middle East Times 16-22 Apr. 1995, 3; ibid. 23-29 Apr. 1995, 3). The National Liberation Front (Front de libération nationale — FLN), Socialist Forces Front (Front des forces socialistes — FFS), [2] Movement for Democracy in Algeria (Mouvement pour la démocratie d'Algérie — MDA) , Islamic Renaissance Movement-Ennahda (Mouvement de la renaissance islamique — MRI- [3] Ennahda) and the communist Ettahadi party each expressed their opposition to holding presidential elections while the conflict between the state and armed Islamists continued (ibid.). [4] The first four parties, which had signed a government-rejected peace proposal with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front islamique du Salut - FIS), also said that the government should include the FIS in the dialogue, but the government stated it would not negotiate with the FIS until the group had rejected violence (ibid.;Middle East Times ibid. 16-22 Apr. 1995, 3). However, reports of secret negotiations between the government and detained FIS leaders [5] Madani and Belhadj in June 1995 suggested that the government would perhaps allow the FIS to participate in future presidential elections ( Middle East International 23 June 1995, 11; The Ottawa Citizen 26 June 1995; The Christian Science Monitor 28 June 1995). These talks reportedly collapsed in July 1995 ( Middle East Times 16-22 July 1995, 4; Jeune Afrique 27 July-2 Aug. 1995, 51), with the government accusing the FIS of being unwilling to call for a ceasefire and the FIS accusing the government of being responsible for the assassination of a FIS founder [6] and imam, Abdelbaki Sahraoui , in Paris on 11 July 1995 ( Middle East Times 16-22 July 1995, 4). However, on 18 August 1995 Le Monde reported ongoing discussions between the two parties.
In 1995 various Algerian democratic opposition parties remained divided over Algeria's political future (Touati 1995, 224; Le Monde 9 Dec. 1995). Amine Touati, in his 1995 study of Algeria states, [translation] "unable to emerge as an alternative to the state/FIS division or bi- polarization, the democrats have drifted toward one or the other of the conflicting parties" (Touati 1995, 223). Human Rights Watch notes that the government has impeded the democratic opposition's attempts to consolidate their forces (HRW 1995, 265). However, on 9 June 1995 in Algiers between 10,000 and 15,000 people attended the first public rally organized by those opposition parties which had signed the Rome platform ( Le Monde 12 June 1995; Middle East International 23 June 1995, 11; The Christian Science Monitor 28 June 1995). Many supporters of the FIS attended the rally, although the government did not allow the participation of FIS representatives ( Middle East International 23 June 1995, 11).
Concerned with legitimizing its rule in Algeria, the government organized a presidential election for 16 November 1995 ( Arabies June 1996a, 13). It called on 100 foreign observers, half from member states of the Arab League and half from the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), to monitor and follow up on the election (MENA 16 Oct. 1995; Keesing's Sept. 1995, 40753). On election day the government tightened security throughout the country ( Le Devoir 16 Nov. 1995, A6) to counter the armed Islamist threat to kill those who voted (IPS 16 Nov. 1995; Middle East International 1 Dec. 1995, 16).
There was no violence during Algeria's first democratic presidential election, which
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international observers considered to be largely free and fair ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1119; Monde arabe Maghreb-Machrek Jan.-Mar. 1996, 107; APS 22 Jan. 1996; Arabies June 1996a, 13). The election was marked by a high voter turnout of 75 per cent ( Monde arabe Maghreb-Machrek Jan.-Mar. 1996, 107, 109; Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Middle East International 1 Dec. 1995, 16), which has been interpreted as an expression of the Algerian people's desire for peace ( Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne 17 Nov. 1995; Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Middle East International 1 Dec. 1995, 16; Arabies June 1996a, 14). Approximately 65 per cent of eligible Algerian voters in France also cast their ballots (Algerian TV 16 Nov. 1995). Liamine Zeroual, who was backed by the military, won the election with 61.34 per cent of the vote ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Middle East International 1 Dec. 1995, 16). Sheikh Mahfoud of the Islamic Society Movement-Hamas (Mouvement de la société islamique (MSI)-Hamas), a moderate Islamist party, obtained one-quarter of the votes, many coming from FIS sympathizers, making it the most significant legal opposition party ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Libération 25-26 Nov. 1995, 9). Saïd Saadi of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (Rassemblement pour la culture et la démocratie — RCD), representing the modernist, democratic camp, received 9.6 per cent of the vote ( Le Monde 9 Dec. 1995; Monde arabe Maghreb-Machrek Jan.-Mar. 1996, 109), and Noureddine Boukrouh, leader of the Algerian [7] Renewal Party (Parti pour le renouveau de l'Algérie — PRA) , 3.81 per cent (ibid.). According to Middle East International , other opposition parties, which had called for an election boycott, were "marginalised by the regime's electoral success" (Middle East International 1 Dec. 1995, 16).
The election also heightened tensions within the FIS (APS 22 Jan. 1996). Six days after the election, Rabah Kebir, a FIS leader based in Germany, recognized the legitimacy of the new president and expressed his openness to a dialogue with the government ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Libération 25-26 Nov. 1995, 9; Jeune Afrique 30 Nov.-6 Dec. 1995). However, another FIS leader based in the United States, Anouar Haddam, denounced Kebir's position ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995; Libération 25-26 Nov. 1995, 9). One source claims that Kebir's willingness to open discussions with the new government was, in part, the result of the political advances made by its Islamist rival, the MSI-Hamas ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 23 Nov. 1995).
On 31 December 1995 President Zeroual named Ahmed Ouyahia as the prime minister ( Le Point 6 Jan. 1996, 16), and on 5 January 1996 announced the names of the new cabinet members (ibid.; Le Monde hebdomadaire 4-10 Jan. 1996, 11; La Presse 6 Jan. 1996, B8). The new cabinet comprises 31 members, including two from the MSI-Hamas, one from the PRA, and one woman (see Appendix for a list of the main ministries) ( Le Monde hebdomadaire 4-10 Jan. 1996, 11; La Presse 6 Jan. 1996, B8; Libération 6-7 Jan. 1996, 9). RCD leader Saïd Saadi rejected the president's offer to form part of the government, preferring to remain in the opposition (ibid.; Le Point 6 Jan. 1996, 16).
At the end of March 1996, in an attempt to promote a national dialogue, the president invited 11 political group leaders, excluding FIS leaders, and 41 national figures to a series of meetings scheduled for 6 April 1996 ( La Presse 31 Mar. 1996, A8; ibid. 1 Apr. 1996, A18; Le Monde hebdomadaire 4-10 Apr. 1996, 5; The Globe and Mail 13 June 1996, A11; Arabies June 1996a, 16). During these meetings the participants agreed to the holding of legislative elections in early 1997 ( Libération 8 Apr. 1996, 7). On 5 May 1996 President Zeroual announced that legislative elections would be held during the first half of 1997, following a national conference and a referendum on the constitution to be held before the end of 1996, and a revision of laws on political parties ( La Presse 6 May 1996, B6; Le Monde 7 May 1996).
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On 11 May 1996 the government issued its constitutional reform proposals, which included: establishing a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms for the president; setting up a "National Council" similar to the French Senate; creating a new high state court; prohibiting ethnic-based political parties; and establishing a system of proportional representation ( The Globe and Mail 13 June 1996, A11). The FFS and the FIS have reportedly rejected these proposals (ibid.; Le Monde 31 May 1996b, 6).
NOTES [1] On 27 January 1994 retired General Liamine Zeroual was appointed president for a three-year transitional period by the military-backed High State Committee ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 15-16). [back]
[2] The MDA was launched by former president Ahmed Ben Bella in May 1984 to "achieve pluralism and begin Algeria's apprenticeship in democracy" ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 19). The party became legal in 1990 in the context of multipartyism ( Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East 1993 , 4). Although it boycotted the June 1990 local elections, the MDA participated in the first round of legislative elections held in December 1991, but did not win any seats ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 19). [back]
[3] The Ettahadi (Challenge) party, led by Cherif al-Hashemi, succeeded the Socialist Vanguard Party (PAGS) in January 1993 ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 19). The PAGS was involved in the October 1988 anti- government riots ( Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East 1993, 7). It became legal in 1989, when Algeria moved toward multipartyism, and participated unsuccessfully in the June 1990 local elections (ibid.; Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 19). [back]
[4] Between 8 and 13 January 1995, seven Algerian opposition parties, including the banned FIS, met in Rome where they agreed to a peace proposal, known as the Rome platform or "National Contract" ( Human Rights Tribune June/July 1995, 24). The Rome platform was subsequently rejected by the Algerian government (ibid.). For further details on this proposal, please see the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , p. 29, available at Regional Documentation Centres. [back]
[5] These two FIS leaders were reportedly sent back to jail in early June 1995 after having been moved to house arrest in March 1995 ( Keesing's June 1995, 40623). They remained in detention in an unknown place in June 1996 ( Arabies June 1996a, 16; Reuters 11 June 1996). [back]
[6] Le Devoir reports that the GIA killed Abdelbaki Sahraoui (25-26 May 1996, A8). [back]
[7] The PRA, an "Islamic moderate reformist" party (Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East 1993 , 7), emerged during the October 1988 anti-government riots ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 19). In 1989 the PRA declared its intention to focus on economic issues, promoting an end to "state capitalism and interventionism" (ibid.). [back]
3. MAIN ARMED ISLAMIST GROUPS
Information on the structure and objectives of armed Islamist groups in Algeria, as well as [8] the links between them, remains limited and somewhat ambiguous. The groups appear to be divided regionally as well as ideologically, although these divisions are sometimes blurred at the local level due to their decentralized power structure ( Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 32).
The June 1995 DIRB paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict referred to an armed Islamist group linked to the FIS, the Armed Islamic Movement (Mouvement islamique armé - MIA) (pp. 7, 10-11). This group has reportedly merged with the Islamic Salvation Army (Armée islamique du Salut - AIS) under the AIS banner ( Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 34).
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3.1 Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) Reporting in March 1995, Middle East Times stated that the AIS, the FIS' armed wing, comprised three regional groups: eastern, central and western, with the central group "considered more autonomous" from the FIS than the other two (Middle East Times 19-25 Mar. 1995, 4). Al-Hayah added, "Several groups operating in the central region say that they are operating under the name 'Battalions of the Islamic Salvation Army.' But these groups do not take orders from one amir, and their links with the amirs are not clearly defined" (Al-Hayah 15 Mar. 1995).
An early September 1995 report stated the AIS [translation] "no longer exists next to the large and disordered but well-armed and solidly implanted GIA battalions" ( Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 35). Reportedly, the AIS, which once had 40,000 fighters, has been reduced to some 4,500 ( Courrier international 15-21 Feb. 1996a, 24). Sources state that between 2,500 and 3,000 are led by Madani Merzak in the east and that Ahmed Ben Aïcha leads 1,500-2,000 men in the west (ibid.; L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 15). Sources also report that the AIS central group has largely dissolved ( Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11; Arabies June 1996b, 17).
According to a source, the AIS has denounced what appears to be gratuitous violence committed by some elements within the GIA, and reportedly favours negotiations with the government ( Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11).
3.2 Armed Islamic Group (GIA) Reporting in early September 1995, Le Nouvel Observateur indicated that the GIA was [9] comprised of three currents: (1) salafist , led by Mahfoud Tadjine, also known as Abou Khalil Mahfoud, mainly targets military objectives, although it also engages in urban warfare; (2) [10] djazarist , led by Mohamed Saïd jusqu'en novembre 1995 (see section 3.2.1), is responsible for several killings of journalists and intellectuals; and (3) the followers of GIA supreme leader Djamel Zitouni, alias Abou Abderrahmane Amine, who carry out car bombings ( Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 35).
The GIA is made up of hundreds of small, informal and largely autonomous groups led by neighbourhood emirs and often comprising young delinquents or "gangsters" (AFP 28 July 1995; Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 32; Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11). In her book Les Islamistes algériens : entre les urnes et le maquis published in October 1995, Séverine Labat indicates a convergence of interests between the GIA and [translation] "local clientelist networks," resulting in the [translation] "criminalization of politics" in Algeria (Labat Oct. 1995, 264, 266). Courrier international points out that many youths joined the armed Islamist movement out of fear of the police and because in some cases doing so held the promise of enrichment (Courrier international 11-17 Jan. 1996, 38). However, confessions of armed Islamists who have surrendered to the government (see section 6.2.a) indicate that some have been disillusioned by the armed Islamist movement (ibid.; Radio Algiers Network 3 Dec. 1995).
Most GIA leaders appear to be Algerian veterans of the war in Afghanistan and, hence, are commonly called "Afghanis" ( Courrier international 25-31 Jan. 1996, 30; L'Express 18-24 Jan. 1996, 16). On 14 March 1996 L'Express reported that Algerians who had recently fought alongside Muslims in Bosnia had returned to Algeria and joined the armed Islamist movement (L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 15).
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While, like the AIS, the GIA has bases in western, central and eastern Algeria, according to one source, it "is stronger in the strategic central region and the capital, but is behind the AIS in eastern and western Algeria" (Compass Newswire 24 Jan. 1996).
The GIA, which reports indicate is the Islamist group responsible for most of the killings of [11] civilians and often decapitates and mutilates its victims ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121; AFP 28 July 1995), has also claimed to have members prepared to carry out suicide attacks (ibid.). In early August 1995 three Islamists carried out a suicide truck bombing targeting a power station in Boufarik, killing themselves and 8 other people, as well as injuring between 15 and 25 ( Libération 8 Aug. 1995, 7; Radio Algiers Network 7 Aug. 1995).
3.2.1 Internal Rivalries The GIA has been marked by internal rivalries ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 13 Dec. 1995; Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11; Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne 4 Jan. 1996). In early November 1995 in the Medea region GIA members assassinated the leader of the GIA djazarist current, Mohamed Saïd, as well as another important member of the GIA and former [12] FIS leader, Abderrazakh Redjam; both Saïd and Redjam were considered to be moderate elements within the GIA who had attempted to unify the group's various currents, as well as the GIA and the AIS ( Le Nouveau Quotidien 13 Dec. 1995; Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11; Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne 4 Jan. 1996). These and other killings allegedly ordered by GIA leader Zitouni have led to several splits within the GIA (Compass Newswire 23 Jan. 1996; [13] Arabies June 1996b, 17), involving: the "Medea group;" the "Al Fida Battalion" led by Youssef Abou Hammam; the "death brigade" operating around Algiers and Tizi Ouzou; the "Larbaa Battalion" based in the Larbaa region, east of Algiers; and the Islamic State Movement (Mouvement pour l'État islamique - MEI) (ibid.). On 23 December 1995 the "Larbaa Battalion," which had joined the GIA on 13 March 1994, reportedly issued a statement declaring its withdrawal from the GIA ( Al-Hayah 1 Jan. 1996).
The MEI, led by Saïd Makhloufi, a founder of the FIS, joined the GIA in May 1994 ( Al- Hayah 21 Feb. 1996; L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 16). In a 20 February 1996 statement Makhloufi said many of its members had disappeared after having been kidnapped by the GIA (ibid.). L'Express has characterized this as the second phase of the [translation] "purification process" undertaken by the GIA after it eradicated members of the djazarist current (ibid.). The 20 February 1996 MEI statement further indicated that it had broken away from the GIA and warned the GIA that it would declare war against it if it did not release MEI leaders within one week ( Al-Hayah 21 Feb. 1996). Sources consulted by the DIRB do not indicate whether the MEI has carried out its threat against the GIA nor do they mention incidents of MEI-instigated violence.
3.3 Relationships Among Islamist Groups 3.3.1 FIS-AIS In the context of the leadership vacuum resulting from the imprisonment of two FIS leaders and the exile of others, the AIS declared in a 15 March 1995 statement that it had [14] named an "interim national emir," Madani Merzak , to lead the FIS ( Middle East Times 19-25 Mar. 1995, 4; RFI 15 Mar. 1995; Al-Hayah 15 Mar. 1995). The AIS statement did not indicate whether FIS leaders had approved this decision ( Middle East Times 19-25 Mar. 1995, 4). Reporting in mid-March 1995, Al-Hayah stated that this event was "of considerable importance" as it meant that the FIS leadership was "now practically in the hands of the field command" (Al- Hayah 15 Mar. 1995). On 14 March 1996 L'Express stated that the AIS operated quite
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independently from the FIS political leadership (L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 15).
3.3.2 FIS-GIA In late March 1995 FIS leaders abroad denounced violent acts against civilians, particularly women, children and the elderly, but attributed these to death squads linked to government security forces rather than to the GIA ( Libération 20 Mar. 1995, 11; FIS 17 Mar. 1995). A 25 May 1995 news report stated that, although the FIS had "publicly distanced itself from the use of terror tactics," it, like the GIA, continued to advocate the "violent overthrow of the government" ( International Herald Tribune 25 May 1995). Another source states, [translation] "Between the FIS and the GIA, no one knows anymore where one ends and where the other begins" ( Le Nouvel Observateur 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 1995, 35). Yet another source indicates that the GIA "obeys" jailed FIS leader, Ali Belhadj, suggesting that the FIS still has authority over armed Islamists ( Le Point 17 Feb. 1996, 47). However, the GIA has reportedly targeted FIS leaders (AFP 21 Jan. 1996; Jane's Defence Weekly 7 Feb. 1996), who have pronounced themselves in favour of peace and national reconciliation (ibid.).
3.3.3 AIS-GIA While differences between the AIS and the GIA have existed since the beginning of the armed conflict (Touati 1995, 229-230), signs of growing divisions appeared in early April 1995 when AIS leader Merzak sent a letter to FIS leaders Madani and Belhadj asking them to condemn "inexperienced and shortsighted" elements in the movement, interpreted as a reference to the GIA ( Mideast Mirror 3 Apr. 1995). On 2 January 1996 the GIA retaliated with a statement declaring war against the AIS ( Libération 11 Jan. 1996, 14; Kuna 8 Jan. 1996). Fifty- five people, including the leader of the GIA western group, Kada Benchicha, were killed in early January 1996 in clashes between the GIA and the AIS in areas around Blida, Lakhdaria and Tlemcen ( La Presse 5 Jan. 1996, B3; Libération 5 Jan. 1996, 7).
However, reports of a joint statement by the AIS and the GIA released on 12 January 1996 indicated that the GIA's western group, led by Abderrahim Ben Khaled, had merged with the AIS' western group, led by Ahmed Ben Aïcha, under the GIA banner, although both groups dissociated themselves from Zitouni and his followers ( L'Express 18-24 Jan. 1996, 16; Al-Hayah 15 Jan. 1996; Compass Newswire 24 Jan. 1996). The FIS and AIS western group leader Ben Aïcha has claimed that the 12 January 1996 statement was false (ibid.; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 17 Jan. 1996).
NOTES [8] See also the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , p. 12. [back]
[9] The salafist tendency has an international, pan-islamist orientation ( L'Express 1 Feb. 1996). The Algerian newspaper El Watan describes it as a "neo-orthodox brand of Islamic reformism preaching the return to the teachings of the pious forefathers" (9 May 1996). [back]
[10] According to El Watan , the djazarist or "algerianist" tendency holds that "Algerian Islam must be given an Algerian specific character, using the concepts developed by the so-called moderate Islamist tendency" (9 May 1996). It promotes armed conflict as a counterpart to the political struggle and believes the conflict should be confined to Algerian territory ( L'Express 1 Feb. 1996). Formerly part of the FIS, this tendency joined the GIA in the spring of 1994 ( Al-Hayah 21 Feb. 1996). [back]
[11] According to Labat, the decapitation and mutilation of corpses represents the [translation] "ritualization" of violence in Algeria (Oct. 1995, 293). Another source indicates that some Islamist sects allegedly believe that decapitating the bodies of murdered victims "prevents the soul from rest" ( The Village Voice 28 Nov. 1995). [back]
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[12] The GIA claimed responsibility for the killing of Saïd and Redjam on 13 January 1996 (RFI 13 Jan. 1996). [back]
[13] According to El Watan , the "Fida" is the djazarist current's armed wing (9 May 1996). [back]
[14] The spelling of this name varies according to different sources. Other spellings found among sources consulted are: "Mezrag" and "Mezrak." [back]
4. INCIDENTS OF ISLAMIST VIOLENCE
In 1995, besides targeting individuals as detailed in section 5, armed Islamists increasingly resorted to the use of car bombs, carrying out sabotage operations against public enterprises, schools, government offices, telephone installations, bridges, trains and railroad tracks (HRW Dec. 1995, 264; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120-1121; Libération 20 July 1995, 7). As indicated below, bombings continued in the spring 1996.
4.1 Car Bombings Violence in Algeria escalated between late July and October 1995 ( Libération 26 July 1995, 9; ibid. 8 Aug. 1995, 7; ibid. 11 Sept. 1995b, 11; Middle East Times 30 July-5 Aug. 1995, 4; Middle East International 8 Sept. 1995, 10; ibid. 6 Oct. 1995, 11). In late July and early August armed Islamists retaliated against security forces operations aimed at destroying their hideouts in Algiers and surrounding areas, by detonating car bombs in Meftah and around Tizi Ouzou (Libération 26 July 1995, 9; Middle East Times 30 July-5 Aug. 1995, 4), as well as in the Boufarik region, a GIA stronghold ( Libération 8 Aug. 1995, 7). Libération also reports that in one month in mid-1995 a number of major works of art, including the Issers bridge between Algiers and Kabylia, were destroyed in armed Islamist sabotage operations (ibid.).
On 17-18 August 1995, shortly before the government announced that the first round of presidential elections would be held on 16 November 1995, armed Islamists launched two car bomb attacks at the Club des Pins, a beach resort west of Algiers, killing two people and wounding seven ( La Presse 19 Aug. 1995, B7; Middle East International 25 Aug. 1995, 11; Reuters 19 Aug. 1995). The attack occurred despite tight security at the resort which is inhabited by high-ranking government officials and their families, as well as people threatened by Islamists (ibid.; La Presse 19 Aug. 1995, B7; Middle East International 25 Aug. 1995, 11). Two drivers employed by a tourist company in the area were allegedly responsible (ibid.; Reuters 19 Aug. 1995); one was killed by the security forces in a shootout on 19 August 1995 (ibid.). On 31 August 1995 a car bomb aimed at the security services headquarters in Algiers missed its target, killing 9 people and injuring 104 ( Middle East International 8 Sept. 1995, 10; Radio Algiers Network 1 Sept. 1995).
The brief lull in violence during the election period gave way to renewed, intensified armed Islamist attacks against civilian and military targets in late 1995 in Algiers and its environs (AFP 4 Dec. 1995; Libération 4 Dec. 1995, 9; ibid. 6 Dec. 1995, 12; Le Nouveau Quotidien 14 Dec. 1995). On 12 December 1995 a car bomb exploded in a southern Algiers suburb killing 15 civilians and injuring 40 (ibid.). Another car bomb exploded in Blida on 14 January 1996 killing 5 people and injuring 25, as well as damaging the town hall ( Le Monde 17 Jan. 1996, 4; Reuters 21 Jan. 1996). A bomb planted in a mosque at Baraki in Algiers and a truck bomb at Hamadi near Algiers both exploded on 31 January 1996, resulting in a total of 14 deaths and 30 people injured ( La Presse 2 Feb. 1996, A14; Libération 2 Feb. 1996, 8; KSC Television 1 Feb. 1996). On 5 February 1996 a car bomb went off in front of a hospital at Ain Bessam in the Bouira region,
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90 kilometres east of Algiers, killing 5 and wounding 22, as well as causing extensive damage to the hospital and nearby buildings, including a school ( La Presse 7 Feb. 1996, E1; Libération 7 Feb. 1996, 9). A car bomb attack at Miliana, 120 kilometres south of Algiers, left 6 dead and 22 injured on 9 February 1996 ( La Presse 11 Feb. 1996, A6). This area had previously not been touched by Islamist violence (ibid.). On 7 March 1996 a truck bomb exploded near the town hall in Berrouaghia, Medea province, killing two people and injuring ten (Radio Algiers Network 7 Mar. 1996).
On 18 March 1996 the Kabylia region witnessed an upsurge of armed Islamist violence when at least 10 people were killed and 26 injured in two separate bombing incidents in Tizi- Ouzou and Zeboudj Kara ( Libération 19 Mar. 1996, 10; ibid. 21 Mar. 1996, 9). Libération suggests that these incidents were linked to the 16 March 1996 reelection of Hocine Aït-Ahmed [15] as leader of the predominantly Kabyle Socialist Forces Front (FFS) (Libération 19 Mar. 1996, 10). Also on 18 March 1996, at a false checkpoint, armed Islamists stopped 30 people returning from work, and slit the throats and burned the corpses of six of them from Sid Ali Moussa village (ibid. 21 Mar. 1996, 9). The motive for the murders appears to have been that the victims' village had organized a self-defence group (see section 6.4) against armed Islamist incursions (ibid.).
4.2 Attacks Against Educational Institutions According to the Swiss Review of World Affairs , educational institutions have been particularly targeted by Islamists because "from their [Islamists'] standpoint, schooling is too modern, not sufficiently 'Islamic' as they understand that attribute. They are also vehemently opposed to mixité , coeducational classes" (Swiss Review of World Affairs Oct. 1995, 21).
Figures provided by the government in July 1995 indicate that 958 schools had been attacked by Islamist groups since the GIA ordered the closure of all educational institutions above the middle school level in September 1994 (HRW Dec. 1995, 264). Country Reports 1995 states that schools continued to be targeted by armed Islamists throughout 1995 (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1125). The Swiss Review of World Affairs reported that, while "hundreds of classrooms were destroyed by arson and bomb attacks, teachers and students (male and female) were murdered ... the country's education system did not collapse. Despite violence and threats, parents and teachers insisted that classes continue" (Swiss Review of World Affairs Oct. 1995, 21). In September 1995, amidst tight security surrounding schools in Algiers, 7,000,000 pupils and 365,000 teachers returned safely to their classrooms ( Libération 11 Sept. 1995b, 11).
NOTES [15] The FFS signed the Rome platform and has promoted dialogue among all Algerian political groups, including the FIS (Libération 19 Mar. 1996, 10; Le Monde 19 Mar. 1996, 3). [back]
5. GROUPS AT RISK OF ARMED ISLAMIST ATTACKS
5.1 Security Forces Personnel and Their Families The GIA has threatened to kill security forces' members and their families (AFP 21 Aug. 1995; HRW Dec. 1995, 264). On 2 September 1995 a truck bomb aimed at a residence for policemen in Meftah exploded, killing 6 people and injuring 83 ( Libération 4 Sept. 1995, 12). On 27 November 1995 the director of the Algerian navy, General Mohamed Boutighane, was assassinated in Hydra, an Algiers suburb inhabited by government and security forces officials, despite tight security in the area ( Libération 7 Dec. 1995, 14; AFP 28 Nov. 1995); no group
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claimed responsibility for the attack (ibid.). On 18 April 1996 a truck bomb partially destroyed the Oued Koriche police station at Bab el Ouel near Algiers ( Le Monde 23 Apr. 1996, 4).
The GIA has reportedly warned the wives of members of the security forces that "as 'good Moslems' they should leave their husbands" (AFP 21 Aug. 1995). On 19 August 1995 nine communal guards' wives were slaughtered, six of whom were reportedly beheaded, by an armed Islamist group in Grarem in eastern Algeria (AI 19 Sept. 1995; AFP 27 Aug. 1995). Human Rights Watch indicates that the children of policemen were also targeted in 1995 (HRW 1995, 264).
5.2 Media Personnel In accordance with its May 1993 warning that "those who live by the pen shall die by the sword" (IPS 2 June 1995; AFP 28 July 1995; The Jerusalem Post 13 Sept. 1995), in 1995 and early 1996 the GIA continued to target journalists and other media personnel, whom it has accused of supporting the "military junta" ( Libération 11 Sept. 1995b, 11; HRW Dec. 1995, 263; La Presse 12 Feb. 1996, A1; Libération 13 Feb. 1996, 10; World Press Review June 1996, 47). In June 1995 the government reportedly acknowledged the difficulty of providing full protection for Algeria's estimated 4,000 media workers (IPS 2 June 1995). Three journalists, including one woman, were killed in less than two days in early September 1995 (Reuters 4 Sept. 1995; AFP 4 Sept. 1995; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121). On 8 September 1995 armed Islamists reportedly killed a television reporter and his wife (ibid.). According to Human Rights Watch, 22 media workers were killed between January and October 1995, "making Algeria the most dangerous place in the world in which to practice journalism" (HRW 1995, 263).
Algerian journalists staged a strike in mid-September 1995, temporarily closing all newspapers, in protest against the killings of media personnel and to demand improved protection by the state ( The Jerusalem Post 13 Sept. 1995; Libération 11 Sept. 1995b, 11). Despite journalists' calls for better protection, assassinations of media personnel continued: on 3 December 1995 Hamid Mahiout, a journalist with the newspaper Liberté and his driver were kidnapped and beheaded by armed Islamists in an Algiers suburb ( Libération 6 Dec. 1995, 12; Jeune Afrique 14-20 Dec. 1995, 36). On 11 February 1996 the GIA detonated a car bomb outside the main press centre, La Maison de la Presse, in Algiers, killing at least 18 people, including 3 journalists, and injuring around 52 (Reuters 12 Feb. 1996; La Presse 12 Feb. 1996, A1; Libération 13 Feb. 1996, 10; Le Monde 17-18 Feb. 1996, 4; Le Point 17 Feb. 1996, 46; Courrier international 15-21 Feb. 1996b, 24). One month later, on 12 March 1996, a photographer with the weekly review Algérie Actualité was killed in Algiers ( Libération 13 Mar. 1996, 10).
5.3 Government Officials Current and former government officials, as well as Muslim leaders linked to the government, have been targeted by armed Islamists (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121; Middle East Times 30 July-5 Aug. 1995, 4; Libération 26 July 1995, 9; AFP 14 Aug. 1995). For example, on 25 July 1995 a high-ranking official with the Ministry for Religious Affairs was killed in an Algiers suburb ( Middle East Times 30 July-5 Aug. 1995, 4; Libération 26 July 1995, 9).
Abou Bakr Belkaïd, a former Minister of the Interior who was campaigning for presidential [16] candidate Redha Malek , was shot and killed by Islamist militants on 28 September 1995 in Algiers ( Jeune Afrique 12-18 Oct. 1995, 8; Keesing's Sept. 1995, 40753). On 24 March 1996 the
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security services reported that "armed criminals" had killed a senior customs official in Algiers (Radio Algiers Network 24 Mar. 1996). On 4 May 1996 another former Minister of the Interior, Mohamed Harbi, was killed in Algiers by three "armed criminals," according to the Algerian security services ( La Presse 5 May 1996, A6; ibid. 6 May 1996, B6; Radio Algiers Network 4 May 1996).
5.4 Foreigners According to Country Reports 1995 , 20 foreigners were killed by armed Islamists in 1995, compared with 74 in 1994 (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121). On 5 May 1995 the GIA killed five foreign cooperants — one each from Canada, Britain and Tunisia and two from France — working on the Euro-Maghreb natural gas pipeline near Ghardaia, 450 kilometres south of Algiers ( Libération 6-7 May 1995, 9; UPI 12 May 1995). This incident marked the first time that the southern M'Zab region and oil and gas installations were affected by the violence (ibid.; Libération 6-7 May 1995, 9). According to an Agence France Presse report carried in La Presse , the GIA has accused foreign governments of sustaining the Algerian state by providing political, economic and military support (La Presse 23 Aug. 1995).
In 1995 and the first half of 1996, armed Islamists also targeted foreign Roman Catholic priests and nuns living in Algeria ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121; Le Monde 30 Mar. 1996, 4). On 10 November 1995 one French nun was killed and another seriously injured by armed Islamists in Algiers ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121). In late March 1996 armed Islamists kidnapped seven French Trappist monks from the Notre-Dame de l'Atlas de Tibehirine monastery in the Medea region ( Le Monde 30 Mar. 1996, 4; Le Devoir 29 Mar. 1996, A5). The FIS denounced the kidnapping as being "contrary to Muslim practice" ( Libération 29 Mar. 1996, 9; Al -Sharq Al-Awsat 4 Apr. 1996). On 23 May 1996 the GIA claimed it had killed the monks two days earlier ( The Gazette 24 May 1996, B1; La Presse 8 June 1996, B10; Courrier international 30 May-5 June 1996, 28); the monks' decapitated bodies were found near Medea at the end of May ( Le Devoir 31 May 1996, A5; La Presse 8 June 1996, B10).
5.5 Women A 22 January 1996 news report indicates that, since the armed conflict erupted in 1992, 343 women have been killed, 310 injured, 30,000 widowed, and 150,000 girls orphaned ( Map 22 Jan. 1996). The security forces claimed that armed Islamists reportedly killed 161 women between January and July 1995 (HRW Dec. 1995, 265). Although Islamists' motives for killing some women are unclear, it would appear that those women whom they view as being "un- Islamic" because of the way they dress, the kind of work they do, or their status as wives or relatives of members of the security forces are particularly at risk (see section 5.1) (ibid.; Women in Action 2nd Quarter 1995, 52; UNHCR 8 Sept. 1995, 3; AFP 21 Aug. 1995). An 8 March 1996 news article reports the view that women are targeted because "'reactionary forces' who are assassinating thinkers, literary figures, and poets are rejecting the achievements of Algerian women since independence" ( Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 8 Mar. 1996).
In early August 1995 a woman hospital worker had her throat slit by an armed group in Meriama near Relizane (AFP 14 Aug. 1995), and the mutilated body of Naima Hamouda, a journalist with the state -owned weekly Révolution africaine , was found in an Algiers suburb (CPJ 15 Aug. 1995; Libération 14 Aug. 1995, 7).
Algerian government figures indicate that 112 schoolgirls and women teachers were killed in 1995 ( The Atlanta Journal 18 Feb. 1996), including Ratiba Hadji, a teacher at an architecture
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school, who was assassinated in Algiers in April 1995 ( Star Tribune 23 Apr. 1995). On 22 April 1996 a woman French teacher, Ouardia Chékiret, was slaughtered and decapitated in front of her students in a college at Ouled-Yaiche near Blida ( Libération 29 Apr. 1996, 9; France-Info Radio 27 Apr. 1996).
One news report indicates that women wearing make-up, short skirts, pants and tee-shirts are at risk of attack (AFP 21 Aug. 1995). Another source mentions reports that even women "whose weddings have become too celebratory have subsequently been abducted, raped and murdered" ( Swiss Review of World Affairs Oct. 1995, 21).
According to some sources, armed Islamists have forced young girls into "temporary [17] marriages" , which effectively involve abduction, rape, enslavement and sometimes murder (HRW Dec. 1995, 265; Swiss Review of World Affairs Oct. 1995, 21; Labat Oct. 1995, 270-271). The girls are usually released when they are pregnant ( Le Monde 5 Sept. 1995; Women in Action 2nd Quarter 1995, 30; HRW Dec. 1995, 265). In other cases, according to an article written by an Algerian psychologist, Islamists "are instructed not to ejaculate during the act of rape, in order to stay in a state of tension that drives them to commit the most unspeakable atrocities upon their victims" ( Freedom Review Sept.-Oct. 1995, 34). Older women are also reportedly kidnapped and used as cooks for a time and then released ( Le Monde 5 Sept. 1995). After their release, these girls and women are considered impure by their families and rejected by them (ibid.; Women in Action 2nd Quarter 1995, 30). In its report on events in Algeria in 1995 Human Rights Watch says, however, that "it was impossible to gauge the scope of these atrocities, or to verify whether the perpetrators were in fact Islamist groups or common criminals" (HRW 1995, 265).
5.6 Other Groups at Risk Intellectuals, writers, artists, teachers, trade unionists, lawyers, veterans of the war of [18] independence , and political and human rights leaders and activists, whom armed Islamists accuse of criticizing their actions, collaborating with the government, or representing the political establishment, continued to be targeted throughout 1995 (HRW Dec. 1995, 263; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121) and early 1996 (AFP 22 Jan. 1996; Le Monde 30 Jan. 1996, 3). For example, on 10 June 1995 the mutilated body of Hakim Kasdi, active member of the RCD, was found ( Libération 12 June 1995, 12). The Algerian newspaper Liberté reported that Lila Amara, a Kabyle singer, and her husband were killed in August 1995 at Tixeraine near Algiers by armed Islamists (ibid. 14 Aug. 1995, 7). On 2 September 1995 a militant with the FFS was shot dead in Blida (AFP 4 Sept. 1995). Mouloud Bezzaz, a leader of the MSI-Hamas and an Arabic teacher, was killed at Ksar el Boukhari, 150 kilometres south of Algiers on 25 January 1996 ( Le Monde 30 Jan. 1996, 3; La Presse 31 Jan. 1996, C6; RFI 27 Jan. 1996).
A lawyer was reportedly kidnapped near Chrea in Blida province on 6 October 1995; his dead body was found the next day (Reuters 9 Oct. 1995a). In early December 1995 two court clerks were killed in Algiers and two others disappeared (AFP 4 Dec. 1995).
Two veterans of the war of independence were killed in Algiers respectively on 24 July (AFP 24 July 1995) and 9 October 1995 (Reuters 9 Oct. 1995b). Furthermore, armed Islamists reportedly killed and mutilated five veterans of the war of independence at Bir El-Ater near Tebessa, eastern Algeria on 20 January 1996 (AFP 22 Jan. 1996).
Reports indicate that a 9 February 1996 directive issued by the GIA threatens with death
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all young people aged between 18 and 22 years who leave their area of usual residence, as the GIA would then consider them to be army conscripts ( L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 16; Libération 21 Mar. 1996, 9; Al-Hayah 14 Feb. 1996). In mid-February 1996, for the first time, the GIA issued a warning to Algerian workers in the Sonatrach and Naftal state petroleum and [19] gas companies in southern Algeria to drop their work or face death ( La Presse 15 Feb. 1996, B1; Libération 15 Feb. 1996, 10; Le Point 17 Feb. 1996, 46; Le Monde 16 Feb. 1996, 5; L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 16; Al-Hayah 14 Feb. 1996). The threat was also aimed at foreign firms which signed contracts with these two companies (IPS 20 Feb. 1996). On 20 March 1996 armed Islamists reportedly killed 10 Sonatrach oil company workers and injured around 20 at Aflou near Laghouat when they shot at a bus, which was travelling southwards from Oran to Hassi- Messaoud, where Algeria's most important petroleum site is located ( La Presse 24 Mar. 1996, A6; France-Inter Radio Network 23 Mar. 1996; Le Monde 20 May 1996, 9).
NOTES [16] Redha Malek, a former premier, later dropped out of the electoral race, apparently unable to gather the 75,000 signatures required to contest the elections ( Africa Confidential 17 Nov. 1995, 8). [back]
[17] The Atlanta Journal reports that, before his death, Sherif Kosami, a former leader of the GIA, issued a religious edict promoting the temporary marriage or "pleasure marriage" on the basis that "holy warriors have the right to claim sexual pleasure before they sacrifice their own lives in the name of Allah" (18 Feb. 1996). For additional information on the temporary marriage, please see the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , p. 16. [back]
[18] The Algerian war of independence was led by the National Liberation Front (FLN), which ruled Algeria for 30 years from independence in 1962 to the cancellation of national elections in January 1992 ( Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 1995, 14-15). According to one source, a number of veterans of the war of independence "strongly oppose" armed Islamists and have allegedly joined armed militias (see section 6.4) to counter Islamist violence (Reuters 9 Oct. 1995b). [back]
[19] These companies represent over 95 per cent of Algeria's export revenue ( La Presse 15 Feb. 1996, B1; L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 16; Le Point 17 Feb. 1996, 46). [back]
6. STATE RESPONSE
6.1 Counter-militant Operations Security forces' operations against armed Islamist groups continued throughout 1995 and early 1996 (AFP 17 Dec. 1995; Africa Research Bulletin 1-31 Jan. 1996, 12124; RFI 6 May 1996). In an offensive that lasted six days at the end of March 1995, the security forces reportedly killed at least 600 Islamists, including some from Eritrea, Tunisia and Morocco, who were holding a meeting in the Aïn Defla region (AFP 27 Mar. 1995; Le Devoir 27 Mar. 1995, A5; Jeune Afrique 6-12 Apr. 1995). By mid-1995, there had also been security forces' operations in [20] Bordj Bou Arreridj, Annaba, Constantine, Berroughia and Kabylia (AFP 4 June 1995), as well as around Mascara and Oran in the west, Jijel in the east, and Tiaret in the southwest (AFP 31 July 1995).
Government security forces began surrounding the Laghouat area on 3 January 1996 (Africa Research Bulletin 1-31 Jan. 1996, 12124). Seventeen armed Islamists were reportedly killed and 40 members of the security forces injured during one week of fighting ( The Globe and Mail 11 Jan. 1996, A11; Le Monde 11 Jan. 1996, 4). On 4 May 1996 nine armed Islamists took some people hostage in an apartment building in Algiers and shot at the security forces outside (The Gazette 7 May 1996, B7). All of the hostages were released unharmed two days later; one
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member of the security forces and at least four hostage-takers were killed during the fighting (ibid.; RFI 6 May 1996; France-Info Radio 7 May 1996). At the end of May 1996 the security forces reportedly killed 200 Islamists in reprisal for an ambush by armed Islamists in the Tlemcen region that had killed 40 soldiers ( Le Monde 31 May 1996a, 6).
6.2 Curfew On 19 February 1996, at the end of the month-long Ramadan fast, the government, claiming that the security situation was under control, lifted the night-time curfew in effect in the [21] main central conflict zones since December 1992, although the state of emergency continued (Libération 19 Feb. 1996, 9; Le Monde hebdomadaire 15-21 Feb. 1996, 5). The curfew had been temporarily lifted at the beginning of Ramadan in January 1996 (ibid.; Libération 19 Feb. 1996, 9). Sources state that the curfew was lifted despite the fact that political violence had intensified in Algeria since the fall of 1995, notwithstanding a peaceful interval during the presidential election (ibid.; Le Monde hebdomadaire 15-21 Feb. 1996, 5).
6.3 Legal Sanctions Until February 1995 Islamists charged with subversion or "terrorism" were tried in special military courts established under a 1992 anti-terrorist decree (Reuters 29 July 1995; HRW Dec. [22] 1995, 265). These courts were abolished in February 1995 and Islamists have since been tried and sentenced in criminal courts (Reuters 29 July 1995; HRW Dec. 1995, 265; Le Monde 28 Mar. 1996, 4). However, human rights organizations report that, prior to the abolition of special courts, Algeria's criminal law was revised to include some aspects of the anti-terrorist decree such as allowing incommunicado detention for up to 12 days for "terrorist" suspects (HRW Dec. 1995, 265; AI 1996, 72, 73).
Between February and July 1995 the government reportedly sentenced around 200 Islamists to death for "terrorism" (Reuters 29 July 1995). Amnesty International reports that, by the end of 1995, over 600 prisoners were under a death sentence, which most had received in previous years after "unfair trials" (AI 1996, 74). None of the sentences had been carried out due to a moratorium on executions in effect since December 1993 (ibid.). Another nine people were sentenced to death in absentia at the end of March 1996 by the Medea court ( Le Monde 28 Mar. 1996, 4). A 13 May 1996 news report indicates that over 1,000 Islamists had received death sentences since 1993, the majority in absentia (RFI 13 May 1996).
6.3.1 Amnesty Law and Clemency In accordance with an amnesty law for "repentant" people introduced by the government on 25 February 1995 ( Libération 5 Feb. 1996, 11), sources report an increasing number of Islamist "repentants" — young people formerly in the armed Islamist movement whom the government has attempted to reintegrate into "normal life" ( Jeune Afrique 30 Nov.-6 Dec. 1995, 39; Keesing's Nov. 1995, 40847; Le Monde diplomatique Feb. 1996). The government has offered reduced court sentences and state protection to "repentant" people (Reuters 19 Dec. 1995; DPA 5 Dec. 1995). In his inaugural address to the nation on 27 November 1995, President Zeroual appealed to the Algerian youth who had "gone astray" to accept the government's clemency offer (ENTV Television Network 28 Nov. 1995). Senior government officials met the next day to discuss the issue of clemency (ibid.). During their meeting they agreed to launch a media campaign to encourage armed Islamists to take advantage of the government's amnesty offer, defined the role of mosques "in explaining the amnesty measures to the repentant," and examined the role that intellectuals, the media and civil organizations could play in organizing a national programme regarding clemency (ibid.). On 2 December 1995 Radio Algiers Network
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reported that over 100 "repentant terrorists" had surrendered to the security forces since 16 November 1995. A 3 January 1996 news report indicated "1000 repentant men" had surrendered since 16 November 1995 (Algerian Radio 2 Jan. 1996).
A 2 January 1996 statement issued by the security services reported that AIS leader Madani Merzak's "second-in-command," Larbi Merzak, had surrendered to government authorities in Jijel province (ibid.; Africa Research Bulletin 1-31 Jan. 1996, 12124). However, the AIS has allegedly denied that Larbi Merzak surrendered ( Libération 11 Jan. 1996, 14), as well as allegations that "hundreds" of its members had repented, suggesting instead that most "repentant" people are former GIA members ( Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11). According to one source, the Algerian government has attempted to take advantage of divisions between the GIA and the AIS by airing confessions of "repentant" people on state television (Compass Newswire 18 Dec. 1995). In January 1996 Libération stated that the "repentants" who gave testimonies on state-controlled television included former GIA members as well as undercover police officers who had infiltrated the GIA (Libération 13-14 Jan. 1996, 11).
6.4 Military Service At the end of March 1996 the government decided to prolong indefinitely the military service of 15,000 reservists ( L'Express 28 Mar. 1996, 7). Moreover, the government recalled 10,000 reservists, who had completed their military service between four and eight years ago, to [23] begin military service on 31 March 1996 (ibid.). Reporting on 20 March 1996, Al-Hayah stated the government had "called up 70,000 reservists" to counter "any potential attack" by Morocco at the border between the two countries over the Western Sahara issue. Reportedly, Morocco also gives refuge to Islamists from Algeria (IPS 20 Feb. 1996).
For additional information on military service in Algeria, please see the following DIRB Responses to Information Requests, which are available at Regional Documentation Centres: DZA21556.E, DZA20096.E, DZA18833.E, DZA17693.E, DZA16933.E, DZA16694.E, DZA16678.E.
6.5 Communal Guards and Self-Defence Groups In 1995 the government began to recruit communal guards (armed militias) to operate alongside Algeria's regular security forces ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1119; AI 19 Sept. 1995; Libération 11 Sept. 1995a, 11; Le Monde diplomatique Feb. 1996). Numbering 18,000, the communal guards are divided into groups of 40 men, each under mayoral authority (ibid.), are [24] given military training, and are paid 12,000 dinars per month ( Le Monde 5 Sept. 1995; Libération 11 Sept. 1995a, 11). Moreover, the government has encouraged the formation of local self-defence groups (HRW Dec. 1995, 266; Le Monde diplomatique Feb. 1996), which one source says are often poorly armed (ibid.). Sources report that the creation of militias and self- defence groups, although aimed at increasing the protection of the population in rural areas, has fueled the cycle of violence (HRW Dec. 1995, 266; Jeune Afrique 13-19 Apr. 1995, 30; Le Monde 20 May 1996, 9). In October 1995 a self-defence group in an eastern village reportedly killed three men suspected of having been involved in an attack against the village ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120-1121).
6.6 Human Rights Violations by Security Forces While several sources report that in 1995 the security forces committed human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, disappearances, detention without charge and torture (HRW Dec. 1995, 264-265; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120; AI 1996, 72), specific information on these violations is limited. For example, Human Rights Watch states that it was
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often difficult to determine the exact circumstances of people's deaths in the conflict "due to strict censorship, the hazards of investigating the violence, and the fact that responsibility for most killings goes unclaimed" (HRW 1995, 263).
Amnesty International reports that several hundred people who "posed no lethal threat" were extrajudicially killed by government security forces in 1995 (AI 1996, 72). The victims were either suspected armed Islamists or civilians suspected of supporting armed Islamists (ibid., 73). According to Human Rights Watch, the security forces arrested some people who were later found dead, although official news reports claimed they had died while fighting (HRW 1995, 264). The United States Department of State notes that there was only one report of anti- [25] Islamist armed vigilante groups killing members or supporters of the Islamist movement (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120).
The United States Department of State indicates that the governmental National Observatory for Human Rights (Observatoire national des droits de l'homme — ONDH) received "significantly more" complaints of disappearances in 1995 than the 116 they documented in 1994, although it was often impossible to determine whether armed Islamists or the security forces had caused these disappearances ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1121). Amnesty International adds that a number of detainees disappeared following their arrest in 1995, including journalists Djamleddine Fahassi and Saghir Bouhadida who were arrested in Algiers on 6 May and 11 June 1995 respectively (AI 1996, 74; ibid. 26 July 1995). According to Amnesty International, no reasons were given for the arrests of these two journalists (ibid.).
Amnesty International further reports that the security forces arrested hundreds of people accused of "terrorism" in 1995 (ibid., 73). According to Jeune Afrique , figures on the number of [26] political prisoners in Algeria vary between 7,000 and 16,000 (Jeune Afrique 27 Mar.- 2 Apr. 1996, 34). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) states that, while "actual or perceived active members and active supporters" of the FIS may risk "serious difficulties including imprisonment," the group's "passive members or sympathizers ... are not likely to be targeted" (UNHCR 8 Sept. 1995, 2). Human Rights Watch reports that in 1995 members of the security forces "harassed and assaulted" female family members of Islamist suspects during raid operations, and "leading activists in the Islamist women's movement were taken into custody and their whereabouts not revealed" (HRW 1995, 265). Torture in detention is reportedly common in Algeria (ibid.; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1122; AI 1996, 74).
As a goodwill gesture after his election victory in November 1995, President Zeroual closed a prison camp in Ain M'Guel in the southern Sahara desert, releasing over 600 detainees held there without charge since the FIS was banned in 1992 (IPS 4 Dec. 1995; Libération 6 Dec. 1995, 12; Keesing's Nov. 1995, 40847; AI 1 Dec. 1995; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1122). This was the last of such camps to be closed (ibid.; AI 1 Dec. 1995). A former detainee at Ain M'Guel indicated to the privately-owned Algerian daily newspaper La Tribune that several [27] prisoners in this camp had undergone torture and ill-treatment ( Le Monde 21 Dec. 1995).
According to Human Rights Watch, in 1995 the security forces committed human rights violations "in a climate of impunity" (HRW 1995, 265). For example, a lawyers' investigation into the mutiny at Serkadji prison on 21-22 February 1995 revealed that: the security forces [28] deliberately killed more than 100 prisoners , most of whom were political detainees; the dead were quickly buried without autopsies being conducted; there was no thorough official inquiry into the incident; and no security forces' members involved in the incident were prosecuted
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(HRW/Middle East Aug. 1995, 3-4; HRW Dec. 1995, 265; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120; Le Monde diplomatique Mar. 1996). The lawyers' preliminary report issued in July 1995 further indicated that the security forces killed the prisoners after the riot had subsided (ibid.; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120; HRW/Middle East Aug. 1995, 4).
6.7 Limitations on Freedom of Expression The government continued to censor the media in 1995 and early 1996 ( Libération 6 Dec. 1995, 12; Index on Censorship May-June 1995; La lettre de Reporters sans frontières Mar. 1996; HRW Dec. 1995, 265). For example, the Algerian newspaper Liberté was suspended for two weeks in December 1995 for allegedly publishing tendentious information ( Le Devoir 11 Dec. 1995, A5). According to Amnesty International, the newspaper's director, Outoudert Abrouss, and one of its journalists, Samir Khayaz, were arrested in December 1995 and "convicted of publishing false information about a senior government official" (AI 1996, 73). The weekly La Nation was temporarily banned without official notification five times in 1995 ( Libération 6 Dec. 1995, 12; Le Monde 6 Mar. 1996, 5). The government also seized the 5-11 March 1996 issue of La Nation , which contained a number of articles on human rights violations by both armed [29] Islamists and the Algerian state since 1992 ( Le Monde 6 Mar. 1996, 5; Le Monde diplomatique Mar. 1996; Libération 5 Mar. 1996, 7; ENTV Television Network 4 Mar. 1996). In connection with this seizure, the government released a statement saying, among other things, that La Nation continued to publish "false and tendentious news to the point of praising terrorism, violence, and crime" (ibid.). On 25 March 1996 La Nation was once again suspended (Libération 26 Mar. 1996, 10).
Following press reports on intensified armed Islamist violence against civilians, on 5 February 1996 the Interior Ministry warned Algerian newspaper editors to abide by the government's 7 June 1994 decree issued to the media, which prohibits the publication of [30] security-related information other than that provided by the Interior Ministry ( Le Devoir 6 Feb. 1996, A5; Libération 6 Feb. 1996, 11). On 10 February 1996 the government also set up [translation] "reading committees" in printing houses to filter information contained in news reports ( La Presse 13 Feb. 1996, C18; Libération 13 Feb. 1996, 10; La lettre de Reporters sans frontières Mar. 1996, 4).
NOTES [20] Agence France Presse adds that the security forces discovered several places in Kabylia where bombs were manufactured (4 June 1995). [back]
[21] The following areas were affected by the curfew: Algiers and the provinces of Blida, Tipasa, Aïn Defla, Chlef, Boumerdas, Bouira, M'Sila, Medea, and Djelfa (Radio Algiers Network 18 Feb. 1996). [back]
[22] For additional information on special military courts, please see the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , pp. 20-22. [back]
[23] For information on the consequences of ignoring a recall notice, please see the 24 August 1995 DIRB Response to Information Request DZA21556.E. [back]
[24] This is triple the minimum wage ( Libération 11 Sept. 1995a, 11; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1128) and more than the monthly salary of a college professor in Algeria ( Le Monde 5 Sept. 1995). [back]
[25] For information on one such group, the Organization of Young Free Algerians (Organisation des jeunes Algériens libres - OJAL), please see the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , p. 24. [back]
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[26] This is reportedly the figure provided by the Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme (FIDH) ( Jeune Afrique 27 Mar.-2 Apr. 1996, 34). [back]
[27] Le Monde specifies that this is the first time an Algerian newspaper has published information on ill-treatment inflicted by the security forces (21 Dec. 1995). [back]
[28] This contrasts with the government claim that 96 prisoners had been killed in a clash ( Country Reports 1995 1996, 1120; Le Monde diplomatique Mar. 1996). [back]
[29] These articles were published in the March 1996 issue of Le Monde diplomatique cited in this paper ( Le Monde 6 Mar. 1996, 5; Libération 5 Mar. 1996, 7). [back]
[30] For details on this decree, please see the June 1995 DIRB Question and Answer Series paper Algeria: Islamism, the State and Armed Conflict , p. 25. [back]
7. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Several sources agree that a solution to the current conflict in Algeria must be found through dialogue and democratization ( Le Devoir 20 Mar. 1995, A7; Touati 1995, 225, 246; Jane's Defence Weekly 7 Feb. 1996). Some sources report that, while seemingly open to a dialogue with Algeria's opposition forces, including the FIS, President Zeroual appears to be relying primarily on a military solution to the conflict ( Le Monde 24 Jan. 1996; Le Monde diplomatique Feb. 1996).
Meanwhile, discordant views expressed by FIS leaders abroad following the presidential election, the FIS'apparent lack of control over armed Islamist actions, as well as increasing rivalries among armed Islamists indicate growing divisions within the Islamist movement ( The Globe and Mail 11 Jan. 1996, A11; L'Express 14 Mar. 1996, 15). Although this may lead to stepped-up negotiations between the FIS and the government ( Financial Times 12 Jan. 1996; Middle East Economic Digest 1 Dec. 1995), it does not ensure the end of violence in Algeria (ibid.; Labat Oct. 1995, 293).
APPENDIX: List of Main Cabinet Ministers
(as of 5 January 1996)
[Translation] Minister of Foreign Affairs - Ahmed Attaf Minister of Justice - Mohamed Adami Minister of the Interior, Local Collectivities and the Environment - Mostefa Benmansour Minister of Finance - Ahmed Benbitour Minister of Industry - Mourad Benachenhou Minister of Energy and Mines - Amar Makhloufi Minister of National Education - Slimane Cheikh Minister of Communications and Culture - Mihoub Mihoubi Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research - Boubakeur Benbouzid Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries - Nourredine Bahbouh Minister of Religious Affairs - Ahmed Merrani Minister of Commerce - Abdelkader Harchaoui Minister of Health - Yahia Guidoum Minister of Telecommunications - Mohad Salah Youyou Minister of Employment - Hacène Laskri
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Sources: Le Monde hebdomadaire [Paris]. 4-10 January 1996, p. 11; Libération [Paris]. 6-7 January 1996, p. 9.
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_____. 21 January 1996. "Violence Mars Start of Ramadan in Algeria." (WEB)
_____. 17 December 1995. "Algérie-violence." (NEXIS)
_____. 4 December 1995. "Algérie-violence." (NEXIS)
_____. 28 November 1995. "General Boutighane Assassinated in Algiers Suburb." (FBIS-NES- 95-229 29 Nov. 1995, p. 25)
_____. 4 September 1995. "Une journaliste assassinée à Alger." (NEXIS)
_____. 27 August 1995. "Algérie-violence." (NEXIS)
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_____. 4 June 1995. "650 islamistes armés tués en mai en Algérie, selon El Watan." (NEXIS)
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Algerian TV [Algiers, in Arabic]. 16 November 1995. "Zeroual Wins Presidential Election; Turnout of Algerian Expatriates in France Reaches 65.53 Per Cent." (BBC Summary 19 Nov. 1995/NEXIS)
Al -Hayah [London, in Arabic]. 20 March 1996. "Algeria: 'High-Ranking Sources' Say 70,000 Reservists Called Up." (FBIS-NES-96-055 20 Mar. 1996, p. 5).
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_____. 21 February 1996. "Algeria: Breakaway Makhloufi Group Threatens 'War' on GIA." (FBIS- NES-96-036 22 Feb. 1996, pp. 12-13)
_____. 14 February 1996. "Algeria: GIA Threatens Oil Workers, Bans Travel by Youths." (FBIS- NES-96-032 15 Feb. 1996, p. 7)
_____. 15 January 1996. "GIA Snubs National Leadership, Unites With AIS." (FBIS-NES-96-012 18 Jan. 1996, p. 13)
_____. 1 January 1996. "'Larbaa Battalion' Pulls Out of GIA." (FBIS-NES-96-002 3 Jan. 1996, pp. 18-19)
_____. 15 March 1995. "Paper Cites GIA, Islamic Salvation Army Statements." (FBIS-NES-95- 051 16 Mar. 1995, p. 18)
Al -Sharq Al-Awsat [London, in Arabic]. 4 April 1996. "Algeria: Anouar Haddam on 'Two Trends' Within FIS." (FBIS-NES-96-067 5 Apr. 1996, pp. 8-9)
_____. 8 March 1996. "Algeria: Statistics on Female Victims of Violence." (FBIS-NES-96-080 24 Apr. 1996, pp. 8-12)
_____. 17 January 1996. "AIS 'Regional Amir' Denies Report." (FBIS-NES-96-012 18 Jan. 1996, p. 13)
Amnesty International (AI). 1996. Amnesty International Report 1996 . New York: Amnesty International USA.
_____. 1 December 1995. Algeria: Amnesty International Welcomes Release of Hundreds of Detainees . (AI Index: MDE 28/11/95). London: Amnesty International.
_____. 19 September 1995. Algeria: Armed Groups Must Stop Targeting Civilians . (AI Index: MDE 28/10/95). London: Amnesty International.
_____. 26 July 1995. Urgent Action: Algeria: Saghir Bouhadida, journalist and lecturer; Djamleddine Fahassi, journalist . (AI Index: MDE 28/06/95). London: Amnesty International.
Arab Press Service (APS). 22 January 1996. "Algeria — Dearling with Militancy." (NEXIS)
Arabies [Paris]. June 1996a. Mustapha Benchenane. "L'Algérie à la croisée des chemins."
_____. June 1996b. Naji Khlat. "FIS et GIA: le chant du cygne?"
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution . 18 February 1996. Shyam Bhatia. "Algerian Girls Slain If They Attend School; Rebels Claim God Allows Rape, Murder." (WEB)
The Christian Science Monitor [Boston]. 28 June 1995. Gail Russell Chaddock. "Seeking Aid, Algeria Hints at Elections with Islamists." (NEXIS)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [New York]. 15 August 1995. "Algeria: Journalist Naim
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Hamouda (f) Killed." (WEB)
Compass Newswire. 24 January 1996. "FIS Armed Group Leader Attacks GIA, Denies Split." (WEB)
_____. 23 January 1996. "Group of Algerian Islamist Leaders Calls for Truce." (WEB)
_____. 18 December 1995. "Authorities Exploit Rift, Publish Details of Islamists' Deaths." (WEB)
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995 . 1996. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
Courrier international [Paris]. 30 May-5 June 1996. No. 291. "L'assassinat des trappistes, un échec pour Zeroual."
_____. 15-21 February 1996a. No. 276. Kossaï Saleh Eddarwich. "Le FIS au bord de la paralysie."
_____. 15-21 February 1996b. No. 276. Abla Cherif. "Algérie: à 15h15, le cauchemar."
_____. 25-31 January 1996. No. 273. Mohamed Tayeb. "Algérie: les vétérans de Bosnie, un vivier pour le GIA?"
_____. 11-17 January 1996. No. 271. Mohamed Sai Benouafa. "Algérie: les déçus du djihad retournent à la case Zeroual."
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 5 December 1995. "500 Fundamentalists Surrender Arms in Algeria." (WEB)
Le Devoir [Montréal]. 31 May 1996. "Corps retrouvés."
_____. 25-26 May 1996. Ali Habib. "Qu'est-ce que le GIA?"
_____. 29 March 1996. Henri Tincq. "Des moines soucieux de rencontre avec l'Islam."
_____. 6 February 1996. "Le pouvoir algérien met en garde la presse."
_____. 11 December 1995. "Quotidien algérien suspendu."
_____. 16 November 1995. "Une élection sous surveillance."
_____. 27 March 1995. "Une offensive contre les maquis islamistes aurait fait jusqu'à 600 morts en Algérie."
_____. 20 March 1995. Jawad Sqalli. "Dérapage non contrôlé."
El Watan [Algiers, in French]. 9 May 1996. "Algeria: Profile of Fida, Armed Wing of Djaz'arist Tendency." (FBIS-NES-96-102 24 May 1996, p. 7)
ENTV Television Network [Algiers, in Arabic]. 4 March 1996. "Algeria: Interior Ministry Stops
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Printing of LA NATION Weekly." (FBIS-NES-96-044 5 Mar. 1996, p. 19)
_____. 28 November 1995. "Sifi Chairs Meeting on Amnesty for 'Terrorists'." (FBIS-NES-95-229 29 Nov. 1995, pp. 25-26)
L'Express [Paris]. 28 March 1996. No. 2334. "Le pouvoir algérien ..."
_____. 14 March 1996. No. 2332. Xavier Raufer. "Algérie: les nouvelles cibles des GIA."
_____. 1 February 1996. No. 2325. Sylvaine Pasquier, Xavier Raufer and Mina Bakri. "Algérie: ramadan à hauts risques."
_____. 18-24 January 1996. Roula Khalaf. "Algérie: convulsions islamistes."
Financial Times [London]. 12 January 1996. "Zeroual Ready to Cash In on Extremist Feud." (WEB)
France-Info Radio [Paris, in French]. 7 May 1996. "Algeria: Security Forces Free Hostages." (FBIS-NES-96-089 7 May 1996, p. 13)
_____. 27 April 1996. "Algeria: Newspaper Employee, French Teacher Murdered." (FBIS-NES- 96-083 29 Apr. 1996, p. 10)
France-Inter Radio Network [Paris, in French]. 23 March 1996. "Algeria: Bus Bombing Link to GIA Threat Considered." (FBIS-NES-96-058 25 Mar. 1996, p. 12)
Freedom Review [Washington, DC]. September-October 1995. Vol. 26, N o. 5. F.Z. Karadja. "Young Algerians: A Lost Generation."
The Gazette [Montréal]. 24 May 1996. "Monks Reported Killed."
_____. 7 May 1996. "Five Die in Standoff After Algerian President Promises Elections for '97."
The Globe and Mail [Toronto]. 13 June 1996. Oxford Analytica. "Despite Talks, Algeria's Zerroual Facing Obstacles on Road to Reform."
_____. 11 January 1996. "Rival Algerian Factions at War."
Human Rights Tribune [Ottawa]. June/July 1995. Vol. 3, N o. 2. Y. Nedjar. "L'Algérie, un credo de la pire violence."
Human Rights Watch (HRW). December 1995. Human Rights Watch World Report 1996 . New York: Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch/Middle East. August 1995. Vol. 7, N o. 5. Algeria: Six Months Later, Cover- Up Continues in Prison Clash That Left 100 Inmates Dead: Report by Defense Lawyers Charges Inmates Were Deliberately Massacred . New York: Human Rights Watch/Middle East.
Index on Censorship [London]. May-June 1995. Lara Marlowe. "No End in Sight: Caught in the
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Crossfire Between a Beleaguered Government and the Outlawed FIS, Algeria's Journalists Continue to Die." (WEB)
International Herald Tribune [Paris]. 25 May 1995. Youssef M. Ibrahim. "Warning Issued on Algeria Travel; U.S. Tells Americans to Seek 'Protection' From Terrorists." (NEXIS)
Inter Press Service (IPS). 20 February 1996. Neila Nassim and Darius Bazargan. "Algeria: Gas Deals Give Zeroual Confidence in Political Struggle." (WEB)
_____. 4 December 1995. Neila Nassim. "Algeria: War of Attrition Continues Despite Hopes for Peace." (NEXIS)
_____. 16 November 1995. Neila Nassim. "Algeria: Voters Defy Death Threats to Cast Ballots in Poll." (NEXIS)
_____. 2 June 1995. "Algeria-Media: Press Groups Condemn Wave of Journalist Killings." (NEXIS)
Islamic Front for Salvation (FIS). 17 March 1995. Communique . Washington, DC: FIS Parliamentary Delegation Bureau. (WEB)
Jane's Defence Weekly [London]. 7 February 1996. Vol. 25, N o. 6. Yahia Zoubir. "Algeria: The Ballot Box Versus the Bullet." (WEB)
The Jerusalem Post . 13 September 1995. "Home is a Death Trap for Algerian Newsmen." (NEXIS)
Jeune Afrique [Paris]. 27 March-2 April 1996. Cherif Ouazani. "Le palmarès de l'infamie."
_____. 14-20 December 1995. Paul-Marie de la Gorce. "Le cadavre bouge encore."
_____. 30 November-6 December 1995. Paul-Marie de la Gorce. "Que va faire Zéroual?"
_____. 12-18 October 1995. "Algérie: la dernière bataille d'Abou Barkr Belkaïd."
_____. 27 July-2 August 1995. Akli Ouacif. "Beaucoup de bruit pour rien."
_____. 13-19 April 1995. Smaïl Goumeziane. "Algérie: la paix des cimetières."
_____. 6-12 April 1995. Paul-Marie de la Gorce. "La bataille d'Aïn Defla."
Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne . Arezki Aït-Larbi. 4 January 1996. "Les islamistes algériens prédisent la libération imminente de leur chef."
_____. 17 November 1995. Arezki Aït-Larbi. "Les Algériens ont voté massivement aux présidentielles."
Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. November 1995. Vol. 41, N o. 11. "Algeria: Presidential Election."
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_____. September 1995. Vol. 41, N o. 9. "Algeria: Zeroual's Decision to Contest Presidential Elections."
_____. June 1995. Vol. 41, N o. 6. "Algeria: Government-FIS Negotiations."
KSC Television [Kuwait, in Arabic]. 1 February 1996. "Six Killed in Algerian Mosque Explosion." (FBIS-NES-96-023 2 Feb. 1996, p. 10)
Kuna [Kuwait, in Arabic]. 8 January 1996. "GIA Declares 'War' on FIS, AIS." (FBIS-NES-96-008 11 Jan. 1996, p. 18)
Labat, Séverine. October 1995. Les Islamistes algériens : entre les urnes et le maquis . Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
La lettre de Reporters sans frontières [Paris]. March 1996. Djallal Malti. "Algérie: la presse dans l'oeil du cyclone."
Libération [Paris]. 29 April 1996. "Deux assassinats en Algérie."
_____. 8 April 1996. "Des élections législatives prévues début 1997 en Algérie."
_____. 29 March 1996. "Les moines kidnappés introuvables en Algérie."
_____. 26 March 1996. "Algérie: 'la Nation' encore saisie."
_____. 21 March 1996. "Des islamistes tuent six ouvriers de retour du travail en Kabylie."
_____. 19 March 1996. José Garçon. "Deux attentats ensanglantent la Kabylie."
_____. 13 March 1996. "Un photographe tué en Algérie."
_____. 5 March 1996. José Garçon. "La 'sale guerre' censurée en Algérie."
_____. 19 February 1996. "L'Algérie annonce la levée du couvre-feu."
_____. 15 February 1996. "Menaces islamistes sur le secteur pétrolier algérien."
_____. 13 February 1996. "Algérie: presse en deuil et tension sociale extrême."
_____. 7 February 1996. "Algérie: attentat contre un hôpital."
_____. 6 February 1996. "Nouvelles menaces du pouvoir contre la presse algérienne."
_____. 5 February 1996. "Algérie: repentis."
_____. 2 February 1996. José Garçon. "Algérie: le désenchantement après la trêve."
_____. 13-14 January 1996. José Garçon. "Les groupes armés algériens vers la guerre ouverte."
_____. 11 January 1996. "Algérie: les groupes armés se déchirent."
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_____. 6-7 January 1996. Gilles Millet. "L'islamisme modéré au gouvernement algérien."
_____. 5 January 1996. "Les groupes islamistes multiplient les coups de main dans l'Algérois."
_____. 7 December 1995. "Fin de la trêve électorale en Algérie."
_____. 6 December 1995. "La presse algérienne cible des islamistes."
_____. 4 December 1995. Gilles Millet. "Alger de nouveau frappée par la violence."
_____. 25-26 November 1995. "Islamistes, légalistes ou radicaux."
_____. 11 September 1995a. José Garçon. "Les Algériens appelés aux urnes dans la terreur."
_____. 11 September 1995b. "Vague d'attentats anti journalistes."
_____. 4 September 1995. "L'Algérie sous la loi du TNT."
_____. 14 August 1995. "Au moins dix morts dans des attentats des groupes armés islamistes en Algérie."
_____. 8 August 1995. "11 morts dans un attentat en Algérie."
_____. 26 July 1995. "Début de semaine sanglant en Algérie."
_____. 20 July 1995. "Algérie: les attentats s'intensifient."
_____. 12 June 1995. "Double assassinat en Algérie."
_____. 6-7 May 1995. "Cinq étrangers assassinés en Algérie."
_____. 20 March 1995. "Les deux chefs historiques du FIS remis en prison."
Map [Rabat, in English]. 22 January 1996. "343 Women Killed, 30,000 Widowed in Post-92 Algerian Violence." (FBIS-NES-96-015 23 Jan. 1996, p. 9).
MENA [Cairo, in Arabic]. 16 October 1995. "Reaction to Referendum on Saddam Husayn's Presidency; Arab League, Algeria Sign Memorandum on Dispatch of 50 Election Observers." (BBC Summary 18 Oct. 1995/NEXIS)
Middle East Economic Digest [London]. 1 December 1995. Toby Ash. "Zeroual Wins Mandate for Change; Algerian Pres. Liamine Zeroual." (WEB)
Middle East International [London]. 1 December 1995. George Joffe. "The Way Ahead for Zeroual."
_____. 6 October 1995. George Joffe. "Algeria: Zeroual to Stand."
_____. 8 September 1995. Alfred Hermida. "Algeria: Pre-election Violence."
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_____. 25 August 1995. Alfred Hermida. "Algeria: Collision Over Elections."
_____. 23 June 1995. Alfred Hermida. "Algeria: Secret Negotiations?"
Middle East Times [Cairo]. 30 July-5 August 1995. "Algeria Violence Escalates."
_____. 16-22 July 1995. "Talks Collapse in Algeria, FIS Leader Murdered in France."
_____. 23-29 April 1995. "Algeria Throws Down Gauntlet to Opposition."
_____. 16-22 April 1995. "FIS Must Forswear Violence Before Dialogue."
_____. 19-25 March 1995. "AIS Claims Leadership of Algeria's Rebels."
Mideast Mirror [London]. 3 April 1995. "Propaganda Wars Obscure Political and Security Developments in Algeria." (WEB)
Le Monde [Paris]. 31 May 1996a. "Algérie."
_____. 31 May 1996b. "L'ex-Front islamique du salut (FIS)."
_____. 20 May 1996. Ferran Sales. "Algérie."
_____. 7 May 1996. Ali Habib. "Le président algérien a annoncé le calendrier des prochaines consultations."
_____. 23 April 1996. "Maghreb: Algérie."
_____. 30 March 1996. "En Algérie, les moines de Tibehirine se savaient menacés par les islamistes."
_____. 28 March 1996. "Neuf militants islamistes ont été condamnés à mort par contumace."
_____. 19 March 1996. Catherine Simon. "En Algérie, Hocine Aït Ahmed a été confirmé à la tête du FFS."
_____. 6 March 1996. "Saisie d'un hebdomadaire algérien consacré aux droits de l'homme."
_____. 17-18 February 1996. "Afrique: Algérie."
_____. 16 February 1996. "Menaces islamistes contre l'industrie pétrolière algérienne."
_____. 30 January 1996. "Algérie."
_____. 24 January 1996. Ali Habib. "La rupture du FLN avec l'opposition traduit l'immobilisme du pouvoir algérien; Le président Zeroual tarde à appliquer le changement promis avant sa récente élection, tandis que le retour de l'ancien parti unique inquiète." (NEXIS)
_____. 17 January 1996. "Algérie."
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_____. 11 January 1996. "Algérie."
_____. 21 December 1995. "Un quotidien algérien publie le témoignage d'un ancien détenu islamiste."
_____. 9 December 1995. Catherine Simon. "Après l'élection présidentielle, les partis modernistes algériens cherchent à comprendre leur échec." (NEXIS)
_____. 5 September 1995. Catherine Simon. "Le carnet de voyage d'une Algérienne en Islamie." (NEXIS)
_____. 18 August 1995. Ali Habib. "Grandes manoeuvres politiques en Algérie." (NEXIS)
_____. 12 June 1995. "Plusieurs milliers de manifestants ont soutenu à Alger le contrat national pour la paix." (NEXIS)
Monde arabe Maghreb-Machrek [Paris]. January-March 1996. No. 151. Jacques Fontaine. "Algérie: les résultats de l'élection présidentielle 16 novembre 1995."
Le Monde diplomatique [Paris]. March 1996. "L'Algérie et les droits humains."
_____. February 1996. Salima Ghezali. "Une insoutenable demande de paix: Fausse éclaircie en Algérie."
Le Monde hebdomadaire [Paris]. 4-10 April 1996. Ali Habib. "Le chef de l'État algérien relance le 'dialogue national'."
_____. 15-21 February 1996. Ali Habib. "Alger lève le couvre-feu malgré deux nouveaux attentats."
_____. 4-10 January 1996. Ali Habib. "L'opposition légale fait une timide entrée dans le nouveau gouvernement algérien."
Le Nouveau Quotidien [Lausanne]. 14 December 1995. "Quinze morts dans un attentat à Alger."
_____. 13 December 1995. Elisabeth Levy. "Le chef du GIA est mort. Peut-être tué par les siens."
_____. 23 November 1995. Serge Michel. "Le FIS reconnaît la légitimité du pouvoir algérien, six jours après les élections."
Le Nouvel Observateur [Paris]. 31 August-6 September 1995. Farid Aïchoune and René Backmann. "Enquête sur les GIA."
The Ottawa Citizen . 26 June 1995. Craig Turner. "Algerian Civil War to End With Deal, Minister Says." (NEXIS)
Le Point [Paris]. 17 February 1996. No. 1222. Mireille Duteil. "Algérie: retour en arrière."
_____. 6 January 1996. No. 1216. Mireille Duteil and Areski Aït Larbi. "Algérie: Zeroual pratique
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l'ouverture."
Political Handbook of the World: 1994-1995 . 1995. Edited by Arthur S. Banks. Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications.
Political Parties of Africa and the Middle East . 1993. Edited by Roger East and Tanya Joseph. The High, Harlow, Essex: Longman Group, UK.
La Presse [Montréal]. 8 June 1996. "Les sept moines de Tibéhirine ont été décapités par le GIA."
_____. 6 May 1996. "Algérie: calendrier électoral."
_____. 5 May 1996. "Algérie: ancien ministre abattu."
_____. 1 April 1996. "Les trappistes sur le point d'être libérés?"
_____. 31 March 1996. "Algérie: Zéroual invite."
_____. 24 March 1996. "Algérie: autobus mitraillé."
_____. 15 February 1996. "Algérie: menaces du GIA."
_____. 13 February 1996. "Les syndicats algériens appellent à la grève contre la retenue sur les salaires des fonctionnaires."
_____. 12 February 1996. "Le plus meurtrier des deux a été commis devant la Maison de la Presse et a fait 18 morts et 52 blessés."
_____. 11 February 1996. "Algérie: journaliste assassiné."
_____. 7 February 1996. "Algérie: bombe."
_____. 2 February 1996. "Algérie: camion piégé."
_____. 31 January 1996. "Algérie: violence."
_____. 6 January 1996. "Algérie: nouveau gouvernement."
_____. 5 January 1996. "Algérie: affrontements."
_____. 23 August 1995. "Le GIA: le plus extrémiste des mouvements armés."
_____. 19 August 1995. "Les islamistes armés frappent l'État algérien de plein fouet."
Radio Algiers Network [Algiers, in Arabic]. 4 May 1996. "Algeria: Former Interior Minister Assassinated in Algiers." (FBIS-NES-96-088 6 May 1996, p. 16)
_____. 24 March 1996. "Algeria: Customs Officer Killed in Algiers." (FBIS-NES-96-058 25 Mar. 1996, p. 12)
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_____ [Algiers, in French]. 7 March 1996. "Algeria: Car Bomb Explodes in Berrouaghia, Kills 2." (FBIS-NES-96-046 7 Mar. 1996, p. 19)
_____ [Algiers, in Arabic]. 18 February 1996. "Algeria: Curfew Lifted in Algiers, Other Provinces." (FBIS-NES-96-034 20 Feb. 1996, p. 11)
_____ [Algiers, in Arabic]. 3 December 1995. "'Repentant People' Presented to Press." (FBIS- NES-95-232 4 Dec. 1995, p. 9)
_____. 2 December 1995. "Over 100 'Terrorists' Accept Clemency Offer." (FBIS-NES-95-232 4 Dec. 1995, p. 9)
_____ [Algiers, in Arabic]. 1 September 1995. "Official Vows to Punish Bombers." (FBIS-NES-95- 170 1 Sept. 1995, p. 11)
_____. 7 August 1995. "Bomb in Boufarik; Security Forces Eliminate 19." (FBIS-NES-95-152 8 Aug. 1995, p. 18)
Radio France International (RFI) [Paris, in French]. 13 May 1996. "Algeria: 4 More Death Sentences Bring Total Over 1,000." (FBIS-NES-96-093 13 May 1996, p. 12)
_____. 6 May 1996. "Algeria: 5 Reported Killed in Security Force Attack on Islamists." (FBIS- NES-96-089 7 May 1996, p. 13)
_____. 27 January 1996. "Algerian HAMAS Activist Killed." (FBIS-NES-96-019 29 Jan. 1996, p. 24)
_____. 13 January 1996. "GIA Admits Killing FIS Leaders Said, Redjem." (FBIS-NES-96-010 16 Jan. 1996, p. 16).
_____. 15 March 1995. "FIS Armed Group Appoints New Temporary Leader." (FBIS-NES-95-051 16 Mar. 1995, p. 18)
Reuters. BC Cycle. 11 June 1996. "Lawyers Say Algeria FIS Leader Held Arbitrarily." (WEB)
_____. 12 February 1996. "Security for Journalists Urged After Algiers Bomb." (NEXIS)
_____. 21 January 1996. "Two Bombs Explode in Algeria, At Least Two Dead." (NEXIS)
_____. 19 December 1995. "Algerian Army Urges Rebels to Take Peace Offer." (WEB)
_____. 9 October 1995a. "Lawyer Kidnapped and Killed in Algeria Papers." (NEXIS)
_____. 9 October 1995b. "Lone Gunmen [sic] Slays Algerian War Veteran and Son." (WEB)
_____. 4 September 1995. "Journalists Group Protests Algeria Killings." (NEXIS)
_____. 19 August 1995. "Algeria's FIS rejects Government Call for Elections." (NEXIS)
_____. 29 July 1995. "Algeria Sentences 131 Militants to Death." (NEXIS)
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Star Tribune [Minneapolis]. 23 April 1995. "Wounded in Algiers." (WEB)
Swiss Review of World Affairs [Zurich]. October 1995. No. 10. Beat Ammann. "Civil Courage in Algeria."
Touati, Amine. 1995. Algérie: les islamistes à l'assaut du pouvoir . Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 8 September 1995. UNHCR Position Paper No. 2 - Algeria . Geneva: UNHCR.
The United Press International (UPI). BC Cycle. 12 May 1995. "Algeria Facing Increased Sabotage." (NEXIS)
The Village Voice [New York]. 28 November 1995. Leslie Camhi. "Veil of Tears: All Algerian Women are Targets in an Uncivil War." (WEB)
Women in Action [Manila]. 2nd Quarter 1995. Angeline Achterberg. "Women in Algeria Live in Terror."
World Press Review [London]. June 1996. "Algeria's Press Terror."
Important Notices Top of Page
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