Masked killers massacred more than four hundred innocent villagers on the outskirts of Algiers, the capital city. More such massacres of innocents occurred throughout the year, the latest such horror being reported on 13 December. No one knows who the killers are. The long-suffering Iraqi people were bombarded by British and American warplanes and missiles on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. Above, an elderly Iraqi woman personifies the silent anger of her people.
People mourn and curse the military and the 'Islamic' militants alike.
In Algeria as in Kashmir, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, the Congo and Afghanistan, the distinction between law and terror has been, to varying degrees, obliterated. Thus the shallow roots of legitimacy in post-colonial states are further eroded, as countries move towards ever greater internal strife and, possibly, implosion. In March, violence erupted in Kosovo ahead of a UN meeting which was expected to impose sanctions on Serbia. By the autumn, the Serb army's ethnic cleansing of Muslims had reached such alarming proportions that NATO had to threaten air strikes. An inconclusive halt to the depredations followed, but by the year's end war was resuming between the Serb forces and the Kosovan Liberation Army, with no end in sight to the bloodletting.