Algeria hit by surge in guerrilla violence

[Sminette]

I think it's about time that Algerian TV put aside Lebanon talks and debates to face what's going on in our country ...battre le fer tant qu'il est chaud..
I still think that programmes such as Crime Watch will be highly beneficial ..or rewards on giving names and where terrorists are based...
..they will be selling one another for money...after all it's poverty that is pushing them to the mountains...and that's way I ask my governemnt to create jobs to keep the kids out of trouble..!

[phylay]

Sminette,
You know every international event is a good way for the ENTV to avoid talking of our issues

[Sminette]

I know ..pretty sad huh ...

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Between 250 and 300 Algerian Islamist fighters have so far surrendered with their guns under an amnesty meant to end years of strife, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said on Sunday.

Zerhouni declined to say whether the authorities in the big north African oil exporter were planning to extend the measure, which came into force in late February and expires at the end of August.

Algerian media have speculated that the government might extend the amnesty, part of a package of measures aimed at fostering national reconciliation, in hopes that more members of the Islamist rebellion might give themselves up.

"What we can say is that the move has provided positive results, as between 250 and 300 elements have given themselves up with their weapons," the minister told state radio.

The authorities have freed 2,200 jailed Islamist militants under the peace drive which also provides compensation for victims of the violence and people who lost their jobs for suspected links to rebel groups.

The violence broke out in 1992 when the authorities cancelled a parliamentary election that radical Islamists were poised to win. The government had feared an Iranian-style revolution. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the violence.

In June Zerhouni said about 200 insurgents had given themselves up. He added at that time that following the expiry of the amnesty the government would continue its fight against any insurgent who refused to surrender.

On Sunday Zerhouni did not give a number for the number of rebels still at large. He has previously said that 800 were still active.

The amnesty, which runs out on Aug. 28 according to the text of the amnesty law, is intended to put a definitive end to years of bloodshed in a nation whose stability is important for the security of north Africa and the wider Mediterranean.

After a surge in Islamist-linked violence over the previous months, attacks have fallen in recent weeks.

"There is a detente (with regard to the security situation). This is very important," Zerhouni added.

Most of the attacks are believed by security experts to have been carried out by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, the largest remaining rebel movement which has rejected the amnesty offered by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The peace offer gives Islamist guerrillas six months to surrender and receive a pardon provided they were not responsible for massacres, rapes or bombings.

Zerhouni would not be drawn on a possible prolongation. He added: "Speaking about a prolongation is another matter. For the time being we are still in the phase of implementing the national reconciliation."

Algeria says 250 to 300 rebels have surrendered

This 'announcement' seems to have been made a number of times this year.

[Al-khiyal]

GSPC’s former chief announces refusal to adhere to charter for peace and national reconciliation

[Sminette]

I thought this guy was dead....

[liberte]

Only truth will stabilize Algeria-rights activist

BLIDA, Algeria (Reuters) - Algeria, emerging from years of conflict, will not find lasting peace from an amnesty ending this month because Islamist killers won immunity without having to reveal what they did, a human rights activist said.

Cherifa Kheddar, who heads a charity campaigning for justice for the bereaved, added in a Reuters interview that Islamist insurgents freed or given immunity under the process had behaved like victors, making national reconciliation very difficult.

"Why must we accept it if we do not know why our loved ones were killed?" Kheddar, whose brother and sister were tortured to death by Islamist rebels in 1996, said on Saturday. "Hiding the truth is not a good strategy for establishing a durable peace."

"The victims left children and families, and one day or another the children will ask the authorities why the state did not ensure the security of these people, why didn't the authorities asked questions about the crime itself and why didn't the whole truth about what happened ever come out."

More than 2,000 Islamist ex-fighters have been freed under the amnesty in a test of the government's push to reconcile people in the north African oil-producing nation whose stability is seen as crucial for the security of the Mediterranean region.

The amnesty, which started on Feb 28, gave guerrillas still fighting six months to surrender and be pardoned provided they had not committed massacres, rapes and bombings of public places.

It also bars prosecutions of members of the security forces for any wrongdoing committed during the conflict that killed 150,000 to 200,000 people, mostly civilians, and bars public criticism of any participant in the conflict for their actions.

The conflict began when the authorities canceled 1992 elections which an Islamist party was poised to win.

VICTORS

Tens of thousands of Algerians answered a call for a holy war to overthrow the state. They attacked citizens and soldiers to sow fear. Some groups specialized in killing intellectuals. Some killed women and girls for not wearing the veil.

Several former rebel leaders have said since their release they would still like an Islamic state and at least one has suggested that violence will not end until one is established.

Kheddar said she had seen no sign of repentance.

"The victims of terrorism ... will never admit that a terrorist is seen as the equal of a victim, or the brother of a victim or the sister of a victim," she said.

"If during this amnesty the killers had shown any sign of repentance we would have been able to change our position, but as yet we have not yet met a terrorist who has shown this.

"Instead they presented themselves like victors in front of the victims. They have not repented. They have not asked forgiveness of the Algerian people or of their victims."

Kheddar has long proposed a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission, dismissing the argument of Algerian leaders that the country could not withstand the strains unleashed by a full accounting of the violence.

"Installing a truth commission would be very, very difficult at the moment but if there is political will ... it could work," she said. "Victims can sometimes be comforted by knowing why this person was targeted and killed and in what circumstances."

"Reconciling a criminal with his victim simply by way of amnesty has never happened in the history of humanity and it's not going to happen in Algeria," said Kheddar, speaking at her offices in the town of Blida 30 miles south of Algiers.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...IA-AMNESTY.xml