Algeria ready for UN "explorations"

By Hesham Fahim

Algerian Foreign Minster Ahmed Attaf announced on Thursday that following weeks of consultations with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid and Organisation of African Unity Secretary-General Salem Ahmed Salem, Algeria agreed to invite a six-member UN team to visit the country.

The UN announced on Monday that its mission, to be headed by former Portuguese President Mario Soares, would start on 22 July. The team will also include former Indian Prime Minister I K. Gujral, former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel-Karim El-Kabariti, former US representative to the UN Donal McHenry, former French Minister of State Simone Veil and Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako.

The UN said the Algerian government has promised "free and complete access to all sources of information necessary for the panel to exercise its functions." Before heading to Algeria, members of the panel were due to meet in New York with Secretary-General Annan yesterday (Wednesday) to agree on the final details of the visit.

According to observers, the Algerian initiative was another attempt by President Zeroual's government to prove to the outside world that it is following a new policy based on "transparency and openness," according to one Algerian government official.

The official reiterated the government's complaints that much of the information published on Algeria, particularly in the Western media, was distorted and supplied by members of militant groups who are using violence to overthrow the government.

Following an upsurge in massacres at the beginning of this year against civilians living in remote areas in different parts of Algeria, the UN, the US and several European countries called upon the government to accept an international investigation into the killings. The government blames the Armed Islamic Groups (GIA) for the massacres. The GIA, Algeria's most brutal militant organisation, has also issued several statements admitting responsibility for the massacres and alleged that those killed were supporters of the government or local militias created to counter attacks by militants. But other Algerian opposition groups, particularly those affiliated to the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), allege that the Algerian army may have been involved in some of the massacres, or have at least played a passive role in failing to prevent them.

Mounting international pressure and dismay at the huge number of Algerian civilians killed forced Zeroual's government to accept a visit by three European ministers earlier this year to investigate the situation. Algeria also later received a number of European parliamentarians, who met with representatives of the government and recognised opposition groups. The delegation announced at the end of their visit that militants were responsible for the massacres and refused to meet or even accept a letter from the outlawed FIS.

Violence started in Algeria after the army cancelled the results of the first round of elections in January 1992, which the FIS had clearly won. The Algerian government says 30,000 people have been killed over the past six years, while human rights activists and opposition groups put the figure at 80,000.

Algeria, with a long heritage of resistance against French occupation, has opposed demands for international investigation as intervention in its internal affairs. The fact that the latest initiative was announced by the Algerian government itself, and not imposed by a world body or outside countries, was an another attempt to prove that the government was acting out of its free will and not as a result of pressure, according to Algeria's foreign minister, Attaf.

Attaf, in a news conference on Saturday, made it clear, however, that the six-member UN team was not in Algeria to investigate, but to collect information. He added that Algeria, during consultations with Annan which started in late May, agreed with the UN on six guidelines which the team should follow ahead of its visit Algeria.

First, the team should be made up of key international figures chosen in consultation with Algeria; second, the team's mission is "exploratory" and it is not seeking to prove or investigate any particular incidents; third, the government would guarantee free access to all those sorts of information the team may demand; fourth, the government is committed to taking any measures which would facilitate the team's mission; fifth, the team will issue a report which may be published and submitted to Annan, the Arab League's Abdel-Meguid and the OAU's Salem; and finally, there will be no follow-up visits, as the main goal of the visit is "exploratory and aimed at enlightening the international team as to the actual situation in Algeria," Attaf added.

Despite all these conditions, however, the fact that Algeria agreed to receive the UN team reflects a growing confidence in the government ranks that a new situation is slowly being created in Algeria. Some observers argue that new realities have emerged since the cancellation of election results in 1992, and particularly since the election of President Zeroual three years ago. After approving a new constitution, Zeroual embarked on a new course aimed at restoring the elected institutions. Although the FIS was barred from taking part in the elections held last year, other moderate Islamic parties such as Hamas, now the Movement for a Peaceful Society, and Al-Nahda participated, and together have 103 deputies in the 380-member parliament.

Meanwhile, the brutal and mysterious killings of civilians, intellectuals, journalists and artists by the FIS and the GIA have turned many Algerians against political Islamic groups. All that they most people want right now is the restoration of stability and a halt to the bloodshed, the observers added. Other observers even believe that if free elections were to held right now, the FIS would not achieve the same victory as in 1992.

As a matter of fact, Algerian President Zeroual seems more troubled at the moment by growing unrest in the Berber areas following the killing of popular Berber singer Matoub Lounes two weeks ago. Although the GIA claimed responsibility for Lounes' killing in a statement issued last week, Berbers blame the government for his killing because of the singer's opposition to the introduction of a law making Arabic the sole official language in Algeria. The law went into effect on Sunday, triggering widespread demonstrations in the Kabylie region where the Berbers are concentrated. A previously unknown group calling itself the Armed Berber Movement issued a statement last week vowing to avenge Matoubs' death and to kill those applying the Arabisation law.

Berbers consider the legislation an act of war against their own tongue, tamazight, which they are demanding should be declared an official language.

The official Algerian News Agency, APS, quoted Zeroual on Monday as saying that he was worried over developments in the Berber region and that he would apply "all the powers given to him by the constitution to block any attempt aimed at imposing whatever political plan through violence." Zeroual added that in the light of these latest developments, he was maintaining the state of emergency imposed after the outbreak of militant violence in 1992.