ALGIERS, 4 May 2005 — Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika yesterday kicked off a campaign to win support for a referendum on a general amnesty to end a decade-long militant uprising that has cost the lives of up to 200,000 people. It was the first time Bouteflika called on Algerians to vote in favor of a so-called national reconciliation plan to end a conflict, which began in 1992 following the army’s cancellation of legislative elections an Islamist party was set to win.
“A referendum on national reconciliation will be organized. The Algerian people are sovereign and will choose what they want, and we will be at their service to carry out what they want,” said Bouteflika in his first direct call for a referendum.
Militants have stepped up their attacks on civilians and the authorities in recent weeks to try to scupper the amnesty project. Bouteflika, praised for helping restore stability to the oil-rich North African country, did not give a date for the referendum or say who would benefit from the amnesty.
But human rights groups expect it to take place this year and target hundreds of militants and security forces members suspected of criminal acts since the early 1990s. Last month, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Human Rights Federation criticized the plan, saying it would brush crimes under the carpet.
Bouteflika said an amnesty was the only way to achieve peace after violence that isolated Algeria for almost a decade. “What strengthens our hope and boosts our optimism about reaching reconciliation is that the Algerian society is known for its tendency towards supporting peace and reconciliation. Does it have other choices rather than peace?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Western Sahara’s independence movement is considering resuming its armed struggle against Morocco if there is no breakthrough in UN-led peace talks in the next six months, its chief negotiator said yesterday. A frustrated Security Council on Thursday renewed a plea to Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement to end their decades-old dispute over the future of the desert land, which was seized by Morocco after colonial Spain left in 1975.
A UN peacekeeping mission, which has served for the past 14 years in the sparsely populated northwest African territory, was again extended for six months amid an impasse in one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.
“We gave 14 years to find a peaceful solution but the time has come to do something if nothing happens within six months,” Emhamed Khadad, the Polisario Front’s negotiator, told Reuters.
“We are ready to defend ourselves with military action but I hope a peaceful solution will prevail... The key element on whether we return to war depends on whether the UN can solve this issue,” he said in a telephone interview from Tindouf.
The self-proclaimed government in exile calling for Morocco’s withdrawal from Western Sahara is based in southwestern Algeria where over 150,000 Sahrawis indigenous people live in refugee camps.
