Reformed terrorists will not stand for legislative elections

2007-04-02

Pardoned terrorists will not stand for the legislative elections on May 17th. Their leader, Madani Mezrag, former national leader of the Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, chose the eve of the closure of candidate lists, set for midnight on April 1st, to issue a statement announcing that his followers would not take part in the ballot, and explaining that he would not be calling for a boycott.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 02/04/07

[Getty Images] Algerian Islamic leader Madani Mezrag, former chief of the Islamic Salvation Army

Madani Mezrag has not succeeded in his bid to stand for Algeria's legislative elections, scheduled for May 17th. After indicating a year ago that he would campaign under the banner of approved political parties, he changed his mind following the secretive return of Rabah Kebir, popular local and member of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) leadership abroad. Kebir announced last November that he intended to create a new party, divorced from FIS leadership, including number two Ali Benhadj, who was released from prison last year.

Madani Mezrag said he was determined "to consolidate our legitimate right to participate in politics, within and outside of State institutions," stressing that the 1991 legislative elections, cancelled by the government following a major swing to the FIS in the first round, were the cause of the bloody crisis Algeria suffered in the 1990s.

The Interior Ministry voiced its categorical opposition to any return to political activities for those it considered to be "responsible for the national tragedy."

Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, Minister of the Interior, said last November that "The provisions of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation are clear and unambiguous. They ban those who are responsible for the national tragedy from any political activity, whatever their political persuasion."

Farouk Ksnetini, president of the National Commission for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, followed suit in his condemnation; quoting extracts from the charter, he gave an unequivocal "no" to the return of any FIS leaders to the political scene.

The government has forbidden the creation of new parties in the past. Before Rabah Kebir and Madani Mezrag announced their political intentions, the government refused to approve a party formed by former diplomatic chief Ahmed Taleb El Ibrahimi. The "Wafa" (fidelity) movement never saw the light of day, due to the administration's suspicions over the founder’s desire to garner support from the former FIS. "I shall never give approval for an FIS version two," declared Zerhouni in 2004.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has upheld this decision, both after receiving his first mandate and after two referenda held over the Civil Concord in 1999 and the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation in 2005. "The people have given me full backing to forgive, but they have drawn a line which I may not cross: those who were responsible for the national tragedy may never again claim to be engaged in politics."