From: jisrawi@physics.rutgers.edu (najeh jisrawi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan,soc.culture.african,soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.iranian,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.turkish,soc.religion.islam
Subject: The Algerian Echo (2/4)
Date: 6 Nov 1992 12:42:41 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Reply-To: jisrawi@physics.rutgers.edu (najeh jisrawi)
NNTP-Posting-Host: wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu
Originator: gwydion@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu


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*                            The Algerian Echo                             *
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* Volume 1 - Number 2                      Rabi Tani 1413  -  October 1992 *
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            	       <>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
		       <>  ALGERIA AT A GLANCE <>
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The dictators era, (Phase I)...
	Just after the independence, a group of military offi-
cers headed by Boumediene installed Ben Bella as head of 
the Algerian government. Socialism and the one-party  rule 
were adopted. Ben Bella consolidated his power by eliminat-
ing anyone opposed to his regime. He was responsible for 
banning Jam`iyyat Al `Ulamaa Al Muslimeen and jailing its 
elderly leader Sheikh Al Basheer Al Ibrahimi. In June 1965, 
Colonel Houari Boumediene seized power and put Ben Bella 
under house arrest. In 1978, after Boumediene's death, 
Colonel Chadli Bendjedid was selected by the FLN Central 
Committee to replace Boumediene. During this period of 
authoritarian rule, and despite the banning of Jam`iyyat Al 
U`lamaa and Jam`iyyat Al Qiyam, Mosques remained the 
only bastions of opposition to the successive corrupt dicta-
tors.
The balance of sheet of Pseudo-Socialism...
	Under the successive military regimes, Algerians 
experienced economic hardship. The external debt of Algeria 
reached $27 Billion causing a rapid decline in the standards 
of living. Meanwhile, a cast of privileged people was getting 
defiantly and openly richer. The deteriorating standards of 
living, the lack of freedom, and the strict control over (the) 
Islamic life sparked the events of October 1988. For about a 
week, tens of thousands of Algerian youths rioted demanding 
justice and equity. The regime responded by military repres-
sion resulting in, at least, 500 deaths and 1000 prisoners. 
When the use of force proved unsuccessful, president Chadli 
initiated a process of openness toward a multi-party system in 
an attempt to ease public anger and diffuse the crisis.
A ray of hope...
	In 1989, a group of Algerian scholars and workers in 
the field  of Islamic Da`wa rallied all willing potentials and 
formed an Islamic political party: the Islamic Salvation 
Front, FIS.  In June 1990, the first free elections for local 
municipal governments were held; The FIS won an over-
whelming majority.
	After several delays of the parliamentary elections, 
which under public pressure were scheduled to be held in 
June 1991, the ruling party (FLN) decreed a new electoral 
law designed to give it an edge on all other parties. This law 
was judged unfair and was thus challenged by all major par-
ties.
A lesson in political struggle...
	After the failure of all political means, Majlis 
Eshura of the FIS called for peaceful demonstrations and 
strikes at the end of May 1991 to enforce a change in the 
unjust electoral laws. The government responded by repres-
sive means. According to the Algerian League of Human 
Rights, 300 people were killed, and 8,000 were arrested. 
Furthermore, 12,000 FIS sympathizers were fired from their 
jobs. In another move, President Chadli dissolved the gov-
ernment and declared a state of emergency. Sheikh Abassi 
Madani (FIS leader), and his deputy Sheikh Ali Belhadj 
along with 5 other members of the Majlis  Eshura were ar-
rested. The regime also carried out a broad-based campaign 
of arrests aiming at decapitating the FIS from its solid and 
broad popular support. After more than 5 months of emer-
gency law, and the jailing of the FIS leadership, the govern-
ment decided to rescind the unfair electoral laws and sched-
uled a two-round parliamentary election. On December 26. 
1991, the Algerian voters went to the ballot boxes to choose 
their representatives. Of the 430 seats contested by some 50 
political parties and a number of independent candidates, 231 
were decided in the first round. The FIS obtained 188, FFS 
received 25, the ruling FLN got 15 seats and 3 seats went to 
independent candidates.
The dictators era, (phase II)...
	The results of the first round of the parliamentary 
elections were received as alarming shock waves throughout 
the world! On January 11, 1992, the army headed by General 
Khaled Nezzar seized power and announced the cancellation 
of the second round of the parliamentary elections preventing 
the FIS from an assured victory. Algerians were denied their 
inalienable right to elect their own free government, just be-
cause they preferred Islam over dictatorship. In a move to 
contain the popular anger, Mohamed Boudiaf was called to 
head the ``High Council of State" after a self imposed exile 
of 27 years in Morocco. In a dramatic move, the HCE de-
clared a year long state of emergency, banned the Islamic 
Salvation Front and curtailed the freedom of the press. 
Concentration camps were erected throughout the Sahara de-
sert to detain the unhappy. More than 30,000 people were de-
tained without trial and 200 people dead are the toll of a re-
pressive and unpopular junta.
The assassination...
	The arrival of Mohamed Boudiaf to head the HCE 
was praised and advertised  by political analysts as a symbol 
of honesty and perhaps the only person who would bring 
back justice  and harmony to Algeria. But it became apparent 
that his assault on certain segments of the society was politi-
cally motivated and was  a recipe for a disaster. On June 29, 
1992, Boudiaf was killed by his own body guard.
The aftermath...
	The army, this time, hand-picked  Ali Kafi, an un-
known  political figure to head the HCE. His mission is im-
possible as long as the state of emergency is not lifted, and 
the democratization process is not restored. In the mean-
while, the Algerian Muslim people continue to suffer op-
pression and despotism. The leaders of the FIS were judged 
by a military tribunal in their absence and that of their law-
yers, and are to spend up to 12 years in prison... unless 
Allah's decree comes before then to free the Algerian people 
from its long suffering.

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                       The Algerian Echo
                     P.O.Box 446, Kendall SQ.
                      Cambridge, MA 02142
     
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                                            ..........to be continued

Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan