FORGIVE THE MILITANTS, NOT THE FRENCH
Al-Ahram Weekly
m
Aug 28 2009
Egypt
The Algerians are willing to give militants another chance, but they
are less keen to forgive the French for past colonial injustices,
writes Nabil Fawwaz
Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika has said that he intends
to declare a general amnesty in the country in order to end current
fighting. Recalling the crimes committed by the French during their
occupation of the country between 1832 and 1962, Bouteflika called
for France to apologise for the atrocities it committed.
In a speech delivered on his behalf during a rally marking a key
battle against the French, Bouteflika said that the "strategic choices
the people have made through public referendum or parliamentary
representation are common principles that assert the unity of the
national stand… and we are going to follow this path to the very
end."
What is meant by "strategic choices" is that terror ends and normalcy
is restored in the country.
The Algerian government is now preparing to hold a referendum on
general amnesty. After the referendum, Bouteflika is expected to
take further action to end the cycle of violence that has left more
than 100,000 dead so far. Observers expect the referendum turnout to
be high.
But things may not go exactly as Bouteflika hopes. There is no
guarantee that militant groups will lay down their arms, as many of
them doubt the real intentions of the government.
Bouteflika chose to declare the initiative in Ramadan for one obvious
reason. The holy month has been traditionally among the bloodiest in
the country’s history of domestic strife. Many Algerians support the
declaration of amnesty, hoping that it will end the fighting and put
the country back on the path to peace and prosperity.
This is not the first such initiative of Bouteflika. In 1999, he
proposed a referendum for "civil accord", and six years later he
organised another referendum on "national unity". Both initiatives
helped reduce the level of violence.
One of the militants who renounced violence in response to earlier
initiatives is Madani Mezraq, former leader of the Islamic Salvation
Army. He is now asking authorities for permission to engage in
peaceful politics. Mezraq and the former militants of his group
want to have their own party and to be integrated into the country’s
political scene.
With regard to Bouteflika’s call for France to apologise for the
crimes it committed during its occupation of Algeria, some see this
as an answer to Nicolas Sarkozy’s demand that the Algerian government
disclose the circumstances of the death of seven monks in Algeria
in 1996. Rumours have it that the Algerian army had a hand in the
monks’ murder.
But the Algerian president may also be jealous of Libya, which made
Italy apologise for its years of occupation. The Swiss have also
apologised to the Libyans for arresting leader Muammar Gaddafi’s
son. The Algerians have also taken note that France was pressing
Turkey to apologise to the Armenians.
Some observers note that the Algerian authorities like to bring up the
matter of a French apology from time to time. But so far Algeria hasn’t
made any official request to France in this regard. Algerian-French
relations have been strained since French authorities arrested
an Algerian diplomat in connection with the murder of an Algerian
activist in France. The diplomat was later released, but the incident
left the Algerians with a bitter taste.