UN General Assembly
1999

and which allowed terrorism and extremism to do violence against society, values, dignity and people’s consciences. My country is re-emerging, slowly, from these tragic events, which were foreign to Islam. Many things have been said in various forums about this ordeal which engulfed my country — most often, alas, by people who are hostile to or who have only a superficial knowledge of Algerian society and its problems. I will refrain here from condemning anyone’s opinions, but I do believe that when a people has been exposed to a tragedy like the one in Algeria, for a whole decade, and has faced up to it with the courage and tenacity which the Algerian people have shown, then that people should at the least have the right to use its own Republic’s institutions to defend itself. Yes, my country has been wounded — the very flesh of its children has been wounded. Tens of thousands of them are dead — some victims of fanaticism, some victims of others’ madness. In general terms, people have