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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 July - 4 August 1999 Issue No. 440 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 July - 4 August 1999 Issue No. 440
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Concord or fudge?
By Amir TaheriEvery Wednesday for the past few months a group of women have been staging a peaceful demonstration in front of the National Office for Human Rights in Algiers. The women are demanding an investigation into the circumstances in which their sons, brothers, husbands or fathers have disappeared during the past seven years of violence. The women blame the security forces for their loss.
Starting last week another group of women are demonstrating in front of the National Assembly building a few miles away. They, too, say they will continue to demonstrate "forever, if necessary". These women describe themselves as "Families of the Victims of Terrorism" and blame the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) for the murder of their dear ones.
Although at opposite ends of the spectrum, the two groups have at least one point in common: both fear that President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika's "national concord" policy may leave their questions unanswered and bury their respective stories under an avalanche of fudge.
"The amnesty law that the president is proposing will close the investigation of almost all cases of disappearance," says Meliha Slimi, one of the "mothers of the disappeared". She also says that a close reading of the proposed text indicates "virtually complete immunity" for members of the security forces accused in connection with the disappearance of some 3,000 people since 1992.
Bouteflika's text is criticised by the "Families of the Victims of Terrorism" for quite the opposite reasons. "The president is releasing criminals who helped the terrorists carry out their killings," says Zohra Fadji who says her brother was murdered by a group linked to the FIS. "The men set free may not have pulled the trigger themselves but they sure did help the assassins by providing logistical support," she added.
Algeria's rival political forces appear to be lining up behind the two groups of women on opposite sides of the political divide.
Algerian women mourning their relatives following a recent massacre blamed on suspected extremists. Hundreds of families of young men who "disappeared" during the violence have also been pressing to find out the fate of their beloved ones (photo: AFP)
The remnants of FIS and other opposition groups and personalities are supporting the Mothers of the Disappeared as a means of exerting further pressure on Bouteflika without openly challenging his amnesty move.
The militant anti-Islamist parties, including the mainly Kabyle Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the National Rally for the Republic (ANR), are standing behind the families of the victims of terrorism. This helps them maintain their studied silence with regard to Bouteflika's amnesty policy.
It is difficult to gauge Algerian public opinion in the absence of reliable polling measures but anecdotal evidence shows that a majority of Algerians may be too exhausted by their seven-year ordeal to have any opinion one way or another.
"Most Algerians want this whole thing just to go away as if it were a nightmare," says Dahia Allam who imports clothes from Europe. "Neither group of women is likely to win special sympathy from the majority of people who believe that all Algerians have suffered from terrorism and the measures taken to defeat it."
Bouteflika is threading cautiously. The much advertised prisoner release appears to apply to just a few hundred detainees not to the thousands mentioned by the media. Many of them were those who had already served their term and whose release had been ordered last year. Almost all those released were small fry in the FIS organisation of the early 1990s.
"More than half of our prisoners have not yet been tried," says a senior leader of the former FIS, who is legally banned from speaking to the media. "The current release programme applies only to those who have been tried, sentenced and served more than half of their terms."
The former FIS leader estimates the total number of prisoners at over 8,000 of which less than half may qualify for release within the next few months.
Bouteflika's caution is also reflected in the draft law he presented to the parliament. This is excruciatingly long and designed to fudge many issues. The text carefully avoids key political issues and limits itself to the judicial aspects of what is clearly a political problem.
Some articles appear to be designed to protect the security forces against future prosecution on charges of illegal arrest, torture and crimes against humanity. The same articles could be used to prevent private legal action against former FIS members on specific charges of abduction, racketeering, extortion and murder.
Bouteflika's caution reflects disagreement within the ruling establishment, including the senior military leaders. The Chief of Staff General Mohamed Lammari is believed to be "fully supportive" of the president's current policy of limited amnesty. But other powerful figures, notably General Medien Tewfik, the security chief, are believed to be "rather apprehensive" about a policy which they believe may encourage a revival of radical Islamism under a new name.
Some Algerians regard the limited releases that have taken place so far with dismay. The daily newspaper, Al-Watan, which reflects the views of a strong segment of the military leadership, has openly castigated the amnesty policy as an act of surrender to terrorism. Its reporters in the provinces are filing stories about "the return of the beards and the hijab" and the fear that the releases are provoking among the people.
"Political activists from various parties are already practising the art of dissimulation," says an Arab diplomat in Algiers. "They are afraid that any statement against the releases may make them targets for revenge attacks by the radical Islamists."
What is certain is that some of the FIS militants, especially in the eastern provinces, are already trying to revive the banned party's organisational structures by holding informal meetings, reviving contacts, and approaching former financial contributors.
"For all intents and purposes the FIS is being revived as a movement to contest the next parliamentary election," says a senior Arab diplomat in Algiers.
At the same time some members of the more radical groups such as the Salafis and the Faithful Ones close to the more militant Islamic Armed Group (GIA), are joining the revived FIS as a channel through which they can return to mainstream politics.
Opponents of the presidential measures point to the fact that acts of terrorism continue with the same frequency as before. "Almost 600 people have died in terrorist violence since Bouteflika took over as president," says a senior former official.
The new president, of course, plans to seek a popular endorsement for his policy by organising a referendum on the "national concord" law. This could come next autumn by which time Bouteflika may also decide to dissolve the present parliament and organise fresh general elections.
