In 1998, Algeria was near the peak of a brutal civil conflict that had begun after the military's cancellation of 1992 elections set to be won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The arid, inaccessible, poor Ouarsenis Mountains about 150 miles west of Algiers had previously experienced little or no violence. In the 1997 elections, the inhabitants had mainly voted for the pro-government FLN and RND.