Three hundred Algerian militants have agreed to lay down their arms, a newspaper reported on Thursday, a huge boost to government efforts to put an end to a dwindling Islamic insurgency. The surrenders occurred across Algeria and involved members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, one of several groups waging an Islamic insurgency in Algeria, Liberte newspaper reported.
| I believe it's the only one left that's still combat effective... |
If confirmed, the massive surrender represents a major blow to both the Salafist group, known by its French acronym GSPC, and the Armed Islamic Group.
| Which was last reported to be down to around 30 hard boyz... |
The Algerian Interior Ministry and the army in 2003 estimated the number of insurgents belonging to the groups, the nation's two principal terror groups.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika offered insurgents an amnesty under which they could surrender without fear of retribution if they were not accused of committing violent crimes like rape and murder. But the amnesty offer expired six months after it was implemented in September 1999, so it remained unclear what would happen to those insurgents who gave themselves up. Surrenders were reportedly taking place among insurgents in Chlef, 220km west of the capital of Algiers; Medea, 80km south of Algiers; and Jilel, 360km east of Algiers, where 70 GSPC members turned themselves in, Liberte said.
Talks between the fighters and the authorities have already resulted in the "installation of cantonment sites" for disarmed guerillas, of whom 70 have "already discreetly gone to Medea", 70 kilometers (42 miles) south of the Mediterranean coastal capital Algiers, said the paper. "The loss of their main members, pressure exerted by the security forces and open warfare between factions of the GSPC have resulted in a higher surrender rate," said Liberte. "These surrenders will also allow radical factions to be identified and decisions to be taken, because the government will strike even harder against those who continue to sow terror through armed violence," said the paper, quoting observers.
"The (majority of the) terrorist group...has seized the opportunity of Bouteflika's re-election to surrender and benefit from the civil concord," said a security source in Medea, a city 80 km (50 miles) south of Algiers where a large number of GSPC are believed to be hiding. The sources said it was not a done deal yet. One sticking point was whether the rebels met conditions set out under the general amnesty plan. A surrender of up to 300 GSPC rebels would probably mark the end for an organisation believed to currently number around 400 fighters who have since 1999 rejected a peace deal, analysts said.
| So now we're down to 130 snuffies in all of Algeria? Seems unlikely... |
"We're talking about up to 80 percent of the GSPC surrendering. It's a breakthrough for Algeria," said an Algiers-based security expert, commenting on the outcome if the rebels did in fact surrender. "It would be the nail in the coffin for the GSPC." |