Bouteflika takes new line on national reconciliation

2009-03-27

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika changed his message on reconciliation recently, placing greater demands on repentant terrorists. Critics fear the move may threaten the entire process.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 27/03/09

[Getty Images] Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would require amnesty seekers to ask forgiveness from the public.

As the Algerian elections draw near, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped up criticism of religious extremists and those who were once involved in acts of violence, calling on them to "ask the people for forgiveness" before they can join the political process.

Bouteflika sent the message during speeches and discussions while on tour for his electoral campaign. It has sparked controversy and left many to speculate on the future of Algeria and its reconciliation policy.

"Those who have attacked the people, tarnished Algeria's image abroad, committed crimes and massacres against women and children, must acknowledge their actions and ask the people for forgiveness," Bouteflika told hundreds of voters in the city of Tiaret on March 19th.

"The doors of national reconciliation remain open," Bouteflika added.

As part of the reconciliation process initiated by the government, Bouteflika offered opposition groups the chance to return to the political scene if they laid down their arms.

The new tougher tone, observers say, threatens the reconciliation process as a whole.

"A red line has been drawn in the route towards effective reconciliation," said Madani Mezrag, former emir of the Islamic Salvation Army, which is the armed wing of former Islamic Salvation Front that was blamed for much of the violence in Algeria in the 1990s.

Mezrag said that Bouteflika "betrayed" reformed Islamists, after promising better relations and a place at the political table.

"Bouteflika has not kept his promise," Mezrag added. "He called for wide-ranging powers and received them. So, was this reconciliation plan just a slogan to fool the Algerian people?"

"Without a doubt", said Kamal Amarni of Le Soir d’Algérie, "the tone being used against the Islamists has been stepped up as never before, by the man who said he felt 'closer to the Islamists than to the democrats'."

Observers are divided over this change of strategy by the president. Opponents believe it was his intention to empower the Islamists to the point where they are allowed to develop a sense of impunity.

"This message is a confirmation for what is in the pact for peace and national reconciliation, which prevents the perpetrators of the crisis from going back to political activities," said Boueleme Ghoumrassa, a political analyst.

But Ghoumrassa added that the timing of such a message could harm the political process and national reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Atef Kedadra from El Khabar newspaper said that the president is using a new strategy to "put a ceiling on political Islamist activities, giving the example of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), which preaches calm and logical Islam, and which has shown that it is capable of exercising executive power within the government."

Other presidential candidates have not yet reacted to Bouteflika's tough address to the Islamists, but they each had their own view on the reconciliation.

"[Reconciliation] is the one and only option to settle Algeria's political crisis," said Mohamed Djahid Younsi, the National Reform Movement candidate. "It is an irreversible choice."

Moussa Touati, the Algerian National Front candidate, said a review should be conducted of the policy of national reconciliation, due to the "inadequacies it contains".

Independent candidate Mohamed Saïd renewed his calls for those "who are in the wilderness and still haven't laid down their weapons to stop their terrorist activities and sign up to national reconciliation, whose doors remain wide open."

Several intellectuals, who held a forum in Tiaret, said the issue comes down to what individual Algerians think. After all, they are the voters, they said.

The families of the victims of terrorism are calling for justice, the intellectuals said, "but they understand the desire for peace expressed by the Algerian people".