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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The sheer violence of it all...
By Amira HoweidyAbdel-Kader Hachani, the Islamic Salvation Front's (FIS) "third man", joined the uncountable number of victims of Algeria's ten-year-old violence when he was assassinated earlier this week in the Algerian capital Algiers. While Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika promptly condemned the assassination, urging Algerians to remain calm and vowing to mobilise all means necessary to "unmask the forces of evil and treachery" responsible for the act, questions remain about just who was responsible for this latest outrage.
Many in the Algerian capital will not be comforted by Bouteflika's protestations however, since the 62-year-old president, who was elected earlier this year on a promise to end the civil war that has reigned in the country since the army stepped in to cancel elections in 1991 that the FIS was set to win, has so far failed to unmask those who kidnapped his own nephew in 1989. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly last July, Bouteflika stated that "today I am the president, and I can't even find my nephew who has probably been killed".
Perpetrators of violence in Algeria are rarely found, and, in the case of 43-year-old Hachani, who was shot twice in the head and once in the stomach last Monday while waiting for an appointment at a dental clinic, things may not be very different.
Hachani's outspoken stand against violence and his determination to negotiate the best deal possible between the government and the FIS within the framework of Bouteflika's peace plan, had earned him dangerous enemies, such as the radical militant groups who oppose the FIS's 1997 truce with the government. These groups, which include the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), view the ceasefire as a surrender to the state and a betrayal of the cause they have been fighting over the past eight years.
It seems likely, however, that Hachani's stand has also earned him the enmity of army hard-liners who reject any form of reconciliation with the Islamists or the integration of members of the FIS into conventional politics.
Observers argue that these hard-line elements also oppose any attempt by Bouteflika to release FIS leaders from prison or to allow them to participate in political activity.
Thus as the Weekly went to press, no one had claimed responsibility for Hachani's assassination in the former FIS-controlled district of Bab El-Wad in central Algiers. Nevertheless his assassination by "unidentified gunmen" represented the first major figure from the FIS to be killed in eight years of violence.
The vast majority of Algeria's political parties condemned the attack, describing it as a tragedy, with state-controlled television continuing to feature it as the opening news item on Tuesday broadcasts, describing Hachani as a "national symbol".
Meanwhile, FIS figures in exile in London have accused the Algerian state of killing Hachani. FIS sources speaking under condition of anonymity told the Weekly that Hachani, who was under 24-hour police surveillance, could not have been attacked had the security forces not known about it. They argued that he had received continuous threats, and that he had been due to stand as a principal witness in the 'Serkaji Prison Trial' which will be held next week and which may embarrass the authorities.
Thousands of Algerians took part in the funeral of FIS leader, Hachani, on Tuesday
(photo AP)The assassination itself had been preceded by a series of massacres over the past two weeks after a period of relative calm. This week alone more than 35 civilians were killed by suspected GIA militants.
Hachani was one of the few FIS leaders allowed to move freely. FIS leader Abassi Madani, who was released from prison in 1997, is currently under house arrest, while his deputy, Ali Belhaj, remains in gaol.
In an interview with the Weekly last July, Hachani was sceptical of Bouteflika's attempts at bringing peace to Algeria, saying that "that state hasn't changed its policy. Rather, it's like a snake that only changes its skin". He was bitter about what he called "the many, many concessions made by the FIS, for which nothing has been got in return", and said that he was prepared to accept Bouteflika's peace proposals only "on the condition that the framework would actually solve the crisis".
Up until his death, Hachani had not issued any statement either supporting or attacking Bouteflika's Civil Concord Law, which grants amnesty to FIS militants under certain conditions. In a separate Weekly interview, President Bouteflika said that he was awaiting the "voices of the respectable people of the FIS, Belhaj and Hachani" to join in support of the law.
In October this year, Hachani was among a group of prominent Algerians calling for a summit to end the violence that has isolated Algeria. He was also a founding member of 'The Peace and Reconciliation Society' formed earlier this year and including members from across the political spectrum.
Originally an engineer, Hachani was born in 1956 in Constantine. His father, Ibrahim Hachani, was one of the leading Algerian nationalists who launched the War of Liberation against the French colonial regime in the country, and, until co-founding the FIS in 1988 with Madani, Belhaj and others, Hachani was a leading figure in Abdallah Gaballah's Al-Nahda movement.
Hachani
Hachani was elected temporary FIS president at the age of 32 after both Madani and Belhaj were arrested, leading the party to victory in the first round of parliamentary elections in 1991.
After the army canceled the second round, Hachani emphasised the need to resist violence, and urged the army not to confront Algerian citizens, reminding the generals of their constitutional role to follow the people's wishes. This statement triggered the military's anger, however, and Hachani was arrested in 1992 and detained for five years without trial.
During these years, he witnessed a massacre in the Serkaji prison that resulted in the death of scores of FIS members.
Hachani was released in 1997 following a ceasefire agreement between the FIS's military wing, the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), and the Algerian military.
How Hachani's assassination will affect Algeria's search for peace remains unclear, but the immediate reaction has been one of anger. Former Algerian parliamentary speaker Abdel-Aziz Belkhadem told the Weekly in a telephone interview from Algiers, however, that "I don't think the AIS will break the truce. And we have high hopes for a restrained reaction," though he also said that President Bouteflika's peace initiative had achieved little and could not outweigh the impact of the assassination.
The deadline for amnesty under the Civil Concord Law is 13 January. Belkhadem, who was close to Hachani and remains close to Bouteflika, said that "the procedures that will follow will enhance peace and reconciliation. Now there is a lot of frustration, but we must overcome that and move from speeches to action".
