BOUMERDES, Algeria, 29 September 2005 — Teacher Mohamed Alouani hopes a national referendum today on a partial amnesty for hundreds of militants will finally bring peace to Algeria’s most dangerous province. Boumerdes will be a true test of whether President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s referendum will end an Islamic uprising that has cost between 150,000 and 200,000 lives.
More than 18 million Algerians are eligible to vote on the “charter for peace and national reconciliation,” which will offer amnesty to rebels still fighting or in jail. The government expects a massive ‘yes’ vote.
“A mayor, two policemen, two soldiers, and a municipal guard were killed in the last 10 days in this area. Several businessmen were also blackmailed by the terrorists. We live in hell,” Alouani, a 42-year-old Arabic teacher, told Reuters. “We need quick results, people can’t wait any longer.”
Algeria plunged into near civil war when thousands of Algerians answered a call from Islamists to take up arms and overthrow the state. The call came after the army scrapped legislative elections in 1992 which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was set to win.
However, the level of violence fell sharply after two laws were implemented, one approved by referendum in 1999, offering thousands of rebels amnesty if they laid down their arms.
About 1,000 militants, largely belonging to the much-weakened Al-Qaeda-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), remain and still carry out sporadic attacks, mostly in Boumerdes province. The new charter will enable the state to free most jailed militants and offer amnesty to those who surrender. However, rebels responsible for massacres will be excluded.
“Enough is enough. We must turn the page of more than a decade of blood and tears,” Bouteflika said at a campaign rally. “We do have financial means to solve all our problems. But we can’t do it as long as peace is not fully restored.” Algeria’s economy has gradually improved since Bouteflika came to power. Foreign currency reserves exceed $40 billion, inflation is low, unemployment has fallen to below 20 percent and foreign investment is returning.
“Most voters will back the plan for fear of a new wave of violence,” said Mahmoud Belhimer, professor of political science at Algiers Universitys. “I am ready to vote in favor of the charter for my young son to live in peace,” said Souad Zafar, who survived a massacre in the Bentalha on the outskirts of Algiers in 1997. “But I won’t forgive,” she said, adding that seven of her relatives died the night rebels killed about 400 residents.
Madani Mezrag, the amnestied ex-leader of the armed wing of the FIS, told Reuters: “The armed struggle is finished.” He said the national referendum will help Islamists reach their goal of forming a purist Islamic republic. Mezrag, former leader of the armed wing of FIS, said the referendum would not dash hopes for the eventual formation of a purist Islamic state.
“Our goal as an Islamic movement is to set up an Islamic republic in Algeria. Unlike you would think, it is much more possible today than ever,” Mezrag, who headed thousands of armed rebels fighting the authorities in the 1990s, told Reuters in an interview.
Mezrag, 45, said the referendum would free Islamist rebels to fight for the cause democratically. Authorities expect hundreds of armed rebels hiding in the mountains to come down and surrender.
