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| Africa: North |
| Algerian amnesty hangs in the balance after diplomats' killing |
| 2005-07-28 |
| Al Qaeda's killing of two Algerian diplomats in Iraq has thrown into doubt a government amnesty proposal and forced a rare debate on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's handling of Algeria's own Islamist threat. Al Qaeda in Iraq said on Wednesday it had killed kidnapped envoys Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi because of Algeria's support for Washington and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Algeria's principal outlawed Islamic movement, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), on Thursday congratulated al Qaeda for the deaths, according to an Internet statement. The GSPC had been due to benefit from an upcoming amnesty. "Is it conceivable to want to reach out to individuals who coldly incite the assassination of our diplomats abroad?" asked influential newspaper El Watan said in an editorial. "Not a single Algerian understands such a policy...It would be a grave error," the daily said in a rare comment. A shaken Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui blamed the GSPC, North Africa's largest rebel movement and on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organisations, for the envoys' deaths. Shocked Algerians poured into the streets across the country on Thursday in a nationwide minute of silence for the diplomats. "Al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a bastard and a coward. You don't have the right to kill innocent people in the name of Islam," an angry Mohamed Aissani, 32, told Reuters in Algiers. Earlier this month President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised a national referendum would soon be held on a controversial amnesty to bring about a so-called national reconciliation, which he believes will bring peace. A holy war or jihad, which at one point threatened the state's survival, was sparked when the powerful military cancelled elections a radical Islamic political party -- the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) -- was set to win in 1992. Authorities feared a win could lead to an Iranian-style revolution. As many as 200,000 were killed in the violence, but clashes and attacks have fallen sharply in recent years. Bouteflika's peace plan was shaken further when a leader of the banned FIS praised on Al Jazeera television the insurgents in Iraq and said they had a right to kidnap the diplomats. Ali Belhadj has since been detained and is expected to be brought before a court in Algiers on Thursday. "It's clear the political class, journalists and society in general realise that the language of dialogue with people who take up or promote such violence leads to nothing," said Mahmoud Belhimer, a university professor and a deputy editor of Algeria's largest daily El Khabar. Belhimer said Algeria made a mistake with the first amnesty Bouteflika offered rebels in 1999 when thousands surrendered but mostly did not admit to the crimes they committed. "The roots of terrorism have still not been addressed. Social problems must be fixed by the government and people must be taught that Islam does not promote violence," he said. International human rights groups have criticised the amnesty plan, saying it would brush crimes under the carpet and would not necessarily bring peace to the oil-producing country. Less than 1,000 rebels, most belonging to the GSPC, still fight. They pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in 2003 and continue deadly attacks on Algeria's army. Hundreds of militants are believed to want to surrender if an amnesty was offered, security sources and diplomats said. While details of the proposal are yet to be revealed, it is expected to include security forces members suspected of extrajudicial killings during the 1990s. "I'm not against an amnesty if it ends a decade of terrorism. But I will never forgive the crimes the terrorists committed in the name of Islam," Ali Khelaf, 42, told Reuters after he observed a minute of silence. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |