Post by Bozur on Sept 27, 2005 3:59:33 GMT -5
Top Algerians Prefer Amnesia to Accountability on War
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: September 26, 2005
ALGIERS, Sept. 25 - Emerging from years of civil war that left more than 100,000 dead and thousands more unaccounted for, Algeria is not alone in the world as it tries to figure out how to get beyond a brutal past. History is filled with wrenching stories of neighbors killing neighbors in nations divided along ideological, ethic and religious lines.
Redux Pictures for The New York Times
A sign in Algiers featuring President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promoted Algeria's charter for reconciliation.
But where other nations, like South Africa, Rwanda, Argentina and even the former Soviet Union, have promoted reconciliation through public debate and public disclosure of past deeds, Algerian officials are offering a different approach: they are essentially asking their people to forget.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been aggressively campaigning for a month to persuade Algerians to approve his Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a document that offers a little for everyone. There is amnesty for Islamists who committed all but the most heinous of crimes, exoneration for military and security forces, and money for the families of victims of the violence and for the families of those who disappeared, often at the hands of security forces and government-armed militias.
"Reconciliation, in my view, must protect us from experiencing once again the two evil phenomena of terrorist violence and extremism, which brought us misfortune and destruction," the president said in a nationally televised address last month.
But what the charter, to be judged Thursday in a referendum, does not offer is answers or accountability. And that has prompted many human rights organizations, opposition political leaders, and families of those who have disappeared, to criticize the referendum as, at best, a half step toward reconciliation.
"Compensation is not enough," said Lila Ighil, who said her brother was arrested nine years ago and was never heard from again. "We want the truth about the fate of our loved ones. My mother is still keeping my brother's things in order, in case he returns."
Indeed, many critics say the referendum appears to be a political maneuver by the president to consolidate his power by winning the gratitude of two important constituencies, the security services, primarily the military, and Islamists, including those who are in prison or continuing to operate outside the law. The Algerian Constitution allows a president to serve only two terms, but speculation is widespread, even among some of his supporters, that Mr. Bouteflika is laying the groundwork for a second referendum, to extend that to three terms.
"There is no reconciliation in the documents that have been presented to the people," said Mostafa Bouchachie, a lawyer and human rights activist. "Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, thousands tortured by the security services, thousands have disappeared. In Argentina and Chile there is recognition of the security services' responsibility. This says everything that has happened here is not the responsibility of the regime."
The seeds of Algeria's civil war were sown in 1991 during the country's first multiparty elections for Parliament. The army stopped the voting after the first round when the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front won a commanding lead.
Algeria soon faced a bloodbath. Militant Islamic groups attacked government agents and civilians, often slaughtering men, women and children at night. Meanwhile, state security forces abducted thousands of people, and the government provided arms to militias that dispensed vigilante justice. Much of this happened without international attention, in part because journalists were made targets and were killed.
Algeria's first effort to accomplish an amnesty-inspired peace began in 1999, the year Mr. Bouteflika took office. The Parliament passed the Civil Harmony Law, which was then overwhelmingly endorsed in a public referendum. In 2000, the president issued a decree that granted amnesty to members of two armed groups if they laid down their weapons.
In his campaign for his new peace charter, Mr. Bouteflika has said it is the natural next step in the march toward normalcy, a chance to "turn the page."
The document was drafted by the president's office without participation by the public or other government agencies and has been criticized as vague. It says those who "are involved in" mass murder, rape and bombings in public places will not be granted amnesty or reduced prison sentences, for example, but it does not say if that would include those who financed such attacks and it does not lay out a process for who will decide.
The charter does not expressly offer any deal to state agents who may have committed extrajudicial killings or torture, but it virtually guarantees that they will never be investigated or prosecuted.
"The sovereign Algerian people reject any allegation aimed at holding the state responsible for the phenomena of the disappeared," the proposed charter says.
But the critics have hardly had their voices heard nationally, as the state-controlled television and radio have denied them access. That has allowed those who support the referendum, including the parties of the governing coalition, to define the debate as those for or against peace, and it is expected to pass.
Still, the campaign has also highlighted many of Algeria's fundamental problems, which after having been overshadowed for years by the issue of security have emerged again, like the struggle lasting decades over Algerian national identity.
Many people say this is not necessarily bad, because it forces society to confront issues it must resolve, like the need to improve the education system. But it is also painful as the society confronts the internal rivalries between those who want a more religious state and those eager for a more secular state; those who want to preserve the French language, a remnant of more than a century of French colonial rule, and those who want everyone to speak Arabic; those who want Mr. Bouteflika to consolidate power so he can push through difficult changes, and those who would like to see Algeria develop more democratic traditions.
Navigating the future for Algeria is so fraught with problems that even talk of what days should constitute the weekend can set off a fight, and highlight the cultural and religious fissures in society. In Algeria, the weekend is Thursday and Friday, as it is in other Islamic countries like Iran. Many business leaders complain that such a weekend is a drag on the economy, but others insist it would be a cultural betrayal to synchronize the weekend with the Western world.
"As rich as a country can be if it loses a part of its culture, its personality, it will weaken," said Ayachi Daadoua, leader of the majority party faction in Parliament. "The countries that have adopted similar weekends to Algeria are more advanced than others."
For many people, the only issue is the economy. Increased peace over the last few years and rising oil prices have helped to stabilize Algeria's economy, but they have not brought foreign investment, or helped create jobs.
"Whether I vote or not, it won't make any difference in my life," said Hossein Mouzzari, 51, who left his wife and seven children in a village 200 miles away to find a job as a bricklayer in Algiers. "I'll still be looking for work."
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: September 26, 2005
ALGIERS, Sept. 25 - Emerging from years of civil war that left more than 100,000 dead and thousands more unaccounted for, Algeria is not alone in the world as it tries to figure out how to get beyond a brutal past. History is filled with wrenching stories of neighbors killing neighbors in nations divided along ideological, ethic and religious lines.
Redux Pictures for The New York Times
A sign in Algiers featuring President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promoted Algeria's charter for reconciliation.
But where other nations, like South Africa, Rwanda, Argentina and even the former Soviet Union, have promoted reconciliation through public debate and public disclosure of past deeds, Algerian officials are offering a different approach: they are essentially asking their people to forget.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been aggressively campaigning for a month to persuade Algerians to approve his Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a document that offers a little for everyone. There is amnesty for Islamists who committed all but the most heinous of crimes, exoneration for military and security forces, and money for the families of victims of the violence and for the families of those who disappeared, often at the hands of security forces and government-armed militias.
"Reconciliation, in my view, must protect us from experiencing once again the two evil phenomena of terrorist violence and extremism, which brought us misfortune and destruction," the president said in a nationally televised address last month.
But what the charter, to be judged Thursday in a referendum, does not offer is answers or accountability. And that has prompted many human rights organizations, opposition political leaders, and families of those who have disappeared, to criticize the referendum as, at best, a half step toward reconciliation.
"Compensation is not enough," said Lila Ighil, who said her brother was arrested nine years ago and was never heard from again. "We want the truth about the fate of our loved ones. My mother is still keeping my brother's things in order, in case he returns."
Indeed, many critics say the referendum appears to be a political maneuver by the president to consolidate his power by winning the gratitude of two important constituencies, the security services, primarily the military, and Islamists, including those who are in prison or continuing to operate outside the law. The Algerian Constitution allows a president to serve only two terms, but speculation is widespread, even among some of his supporters, that Mr. Bouteflika is laying the groundwork for a second referendum, to extend that to three terms.
"There is no reconciliation in the documents that have been presented to the people," said Mostafa Bouchachie, a lawyer and human rights activist. "Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, thousands tortured by the security services, thousands have disappeared. In Argentina and Chile there is recognition of the security services' responsibility. This says everything that has happened here is not the responsibility of the regime."
The seeds of Algeria's civil war were sown in 1991 during the country's first multiparty elections for Parliament. The army stopped the voting after the first round when the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front won a commanding lead.
Algeria soon faced a bloodbath. Militant Islamic groups attacked government agents and civilians, often slaughtering men, women and children at night. Meanwhile, state security forces abducted thousands of people, and the government provided arms to militias that dispensed vigilante justice. Much of this happened without international attention, in part because journalists were made targets and were killed.
Algeria's first effort to accomplish an amnesty-inspired peace began in 1999, the year Mr. Bouteflika took office. The Parliament passed the Civil Harmony Law, which was then overwhelmingly endorsed in a public referendum. In 2000, the president issued a decree that granted amnesty to members of two armed groups if they laid down their weapons.
In his campaign for his new peace charter, Mr. Bouteflika has said it is the natural next step in the march toward normalcy, a chance to "turn the page."
The document was drafted by the president's office without participation by the public or other government agencies and has been criticized as vague. It says those who "are involved in" mass murder, rape and bombings in public places will not be granted amnesty or reduced prison sentences, for example, but it does not say if that would include those who financed such attacks and it does not lay out a process for who will decide.
The charter does not expressly offer any deal to state agents who may have committed extrajudicial killings or torture, but it virtually guarantees that they will never be investigated or prosecuted.
"The sovereign Algerian people reject any allegation aimed at holding the state responsible for the phenomena of the disappeared," the proposed charter says.
But the critics have hardly had their voices heard nationally, as the state-controlled television and radio have denied them access. That has allowed those who support the referendum, including the parties of the governing coalition, to define the debate as those for or against peace, and it is expected to pass.
Still, the campaign has also highlighted many of Algeria's fundamental problems, which after having been overshadowed for years by the issue of security have emerged again, like the struggle lasting decades over Algerian national identity.
Many people say this is not necessarily bad, because it forces society to confront issues it must resolve, like the need to improve the education system. But it is also painful as the society confronts the internal rivalries between those who want a more religious state and those eager for a more secular state; those who want to preserve the French language, a remnant of more than a century of French colonial rule, and those who want everyone to speak Arabic; those who want Mr. Bouteflika to consolidate power so he can push through difficult changes, and those who would like to see Algeria develop more democratic traditions.
Navigating the future for Algeria is so fraught with problems that even talk of what days should constitute the weekend can set off a fight, and highlight the cultural and religious fissures in society. In Algeria, the weekend is Thursday and Friday, as it is in other Islamic countries like Iran. Many business leaders complain that such a weekend is a drag on the economy, but others insist it would be a cultural betrayal to synchronize the weekend with the Western world.
"As rich as a country can be if it loses a part of its culture, its personality, it will weaken," said Ayachi Daadoua, leader of the majority party faction in Parliament. "The countries that have adopted similar weekends to Algeria are more advanced than others."
For many people, the only issue is the economy. Increased peace over the last few years and rising oil prices have helped to stabilize Algeria's economy, but they have not brought foreign investment, or helped create jobs.
"Whether I vote or not, it won't make any difference in my life," said Hossein Mouzzari, 51, who left his wife and seven children in a village 200 miles away to find a job as a bricklayer in Algiers. "I'll still be looking for work."