An ANC-backer, Algeria bought weapons and surveillance equipment from South Africa (for over $15 million in 1997, $51.3 million in 1999, SA's top client that year) to fight its own Civil War. In November 1997, the South African Embassy was established in Algiers. The Algerian-South African High Binational Commission for Cooperation (HCBNC) was created in September 2000.