Twin World Amazigh Congresses reveal divide within group

04/11/2008

With its members divided between two conferences, the World Amazigh Congress is facing a leadership crisis. The fracture has reverberated throughout the Amazigh movement.

By Imrane Binoual for Magharebia in Meknès – 04/11/08

[Imrane Binoual] Two competing triennial world congresses have created a rift within the Amazigh movement.

Every three years since its creation in 1995, the World Amazigh Congress (CMA), an international NGO which defends the causes of Amazigh people in North Africa and abroad, has brought members together in a general council. The group successfully held its fourth congress in Nador, Morocco in 2005, but planning for this year's fifth congress has caused an internal fracture.

The larger, mainstream faction of the CMA chose to hold the event in Meknès, Morocco, after Algerian authorities refused to allow the group to convene in the Kabyle city of Tizi-Ouzou.

The second faction, led by former CMA President Rachid Raha and Ahmed Dgherni, Secretary-General of the PDAM (Amazigh Democratic Party in Morocco), a banned organisation, insisted that the congress be held in Tizi-Ouzou.

Third-party initiatives to bring about a compromise were doomed to failure. The split in the CMA has now become a reality, solidified by the staging of parallel congresses in Morocco and Algeria.

The Meknès faction held its three-day meetings in complete freedom, from October 31st through November 2nd. In contrast, the Tizi-Ouzou faction was barred from leaving the Algiers airport on arrival, and was ultimately sent to Casablanca. Despite the setback, however, the group took advantage of what time they had to elect Rachid Raha president and to choose a federal council.

Sitting CMA President Lounes Belkacem of Algeria, first elected to the position in Nador and re-elected this year in Morocco, said only the Meknès congress was legitimate.

"There are not two congresses," Belkacem said during the Meknès meetings. "Those who should have gone to Kabylie were unable to pass through the border controls."

The president said the other group may have held impromptu meetings, "but by no stretch of the imagination are they the CMA congress... for such a congress to be legitimate, it must have been called by the approved body, the federal bureau."

This bureau, he contends, decided by a majority vote that the fifth congress should be held in Meknès.

[Imrane Binoual] The Meknès congress was an apparent success, with many international NGOs and representatives attending.

Belkacem said the other group is a minority and has no right to speak on behalf of the CMA.

"Ahmed Dgherni has no link with our organisation," he told Magharebia. "As for Rachid Raha, I think that he has a personal ambition to be president, which is legitimate, but it must be brought before the assembly. He must present himself to the congress, and not stage a coup."

Kamira Naid Sid, chairwoman of the Kabylian Black Spring Women's Collective, said she was happy with the organisation of the fifth assembly in Meknès: "I believe the fifth assembly has still been very significant despite the destabilisation campaign being waged against the CMA. It was very well organised, despite everything."

"I think those who wanted to hold their congress in Tizi-Ouzou were ill-informed about the situation in Algeria," she said. "Right from the start, we said there was no sense in organising such a major event without authorisation."

For Touareg Chieck Ag Baye, attending from Mali, the Meknès congress was not ideal, but yielded some positive results: "In my opinion, the atmosphere was good."

"The concerns of the Touareg people have been considered alongside other Amazigh concerns" he added. "It's important for us to feel there is solidarity towards the Touaregs from the other Berber communities of North Africa."

A representative of the Libyan delegation, Fatmi Ben Khalifa, said the Libyan Amazigh movement had tried from the start of the dispute over the congress site to mediate between the two sides. "We certainly sympathise with the group that called for the fifth assembly to be held in Tizi-Ouzou, but you have to be realistic; we couldn't act in a cavalier fashion and challenge the Algerian authorities."

The Meknès congress was an apparent success. Officials cited the presence of numerous international NGOs and representatives as proof. "We were honoured by the presence of a representative of the United Nations," said principal organiser Khalid Zerrari.

Also in attendance were delegations from regional and ethnic groups, including the Basque parliament, Catalonia, and the Breton and Occitan peoples.

Nevertheless, the Tizi-Ouzou faction said at a press conference in Rabat that legitimacy was on its side.

Rachid Raha had attempted to demand the cancellation of the Meknès congress in local courts, but his claim was dismissed by the court, which said it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the issue, given that the CMA is an association created under French law.

According to observers, the stand-off between the two opposing camps could end up back in court.