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GSPC given 6 more months to surrender
The Algerian government has given armed Islamic extremists six months to surrender and obtain amnesty under a new peace and reconciliation charter, officials said Wednesday.The measure, adopted late Tuesday, aims at finally turning the page on political violence that has wracked the north African country since 1992, claiming more than 150,000 lives. The amnesty is the second championed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika since he first took office in 1999. Thousands of guerrilla activists, including the outlawed Islamist opposition party's armed wing, took advantage of the previous amnesty/ The charter, approved in a referendum last September, offers amnesty for those militants who are not implicated in so-called "blood crimes." Under the deal, legal proceedings will be dropped against rebels who have "ceased their armed activities and surrender to the authorities" in the next six months, except those "implicated in collective massacres, rapes or attacks involving explosives in public places." The amnesty will also apply to those who have been convicted in absentia for crimes other than "blood crimes," according to a government statement. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-23 |
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