Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991 . Total casualties have yet to be accurately counted but it is estimated to have cost somewhere between 44 , 000 and 200 , 000 lives , in a population of about 25 , 010 , 000 in 1990 and 31 , 193 , 917 in 2000 . More than 70 journalists were assassinated , either by security forces or by Islamists . The conflict effectively ended with a government victory , following the surrender of the Islamic Salvation Army and the 2002 defeat of the Armed Islamic Group . The conflict began in December 1991 , when the Islamic Salvation Front ( FIS ) party gained popularity amongst the Algerian people and the National Liberation Front ( FLN ) party , fearing the former ' s victory , cancelled elections after the first round . At this time the country ' s military effectively took control of the government , and president Chadli Bendjedid was forced from office . After the FIS was banned and thousands of its members arrested , Islamist guerrillas rapidly emerged and began an armed campaign against the government and its supporters . They formed themselves into several armed groups , principally the Islamic Armed Movement ( MIA ) , based in the mountains , and the Armed Islamic Group ( GIA ) , based in the towns . The guerrillas initially targeted the army and police , but some groups soon started attacking civilians . In 1994 , as negotiations between the government and the FIS ' s imprisoned leadership reached their height , the GIA declared war on the FIS and its supporters , while the MIA and various smaller groups regrouped , becoming the FIS - loyalist Islamic Salvation Army ( AIS ) . Soon after , the talks collapsed , and new elections , the first since the 1992 coup d ' état , were held — won by the army ' s candidate ( himself a former active participant , as were a significant number of other military officials , in president Bendjedid ' s FLN government ) , General Liamine Zéroual . Conflict between the GIA and AIS intensified . Over the next few years , the GIA began a series of massacres targeting entire neighborhoods or villages ; some evidence also suggests the involvement of government forces . These massacres peaked in 1997 around the parliamentary elections , which were won by a newly created pro - Army party , the National Rally for Democracy ( RND ) . The AIS , under attack from both sides , opted for a unilateral ceasefire with the government in 1997 , while the GIA was torn apart by splits as various subdivisions objected to its new massacre policy . In 1999 , following the election of a new president , Abdelaziz Bouteflika , a new law gave amnesty to most guerrillas , motivating large numbers to " repent " ( as it was termed ) and return to normal life . The violence declined substantially , with effective victory for the government . The remnants of the GIA proper were hunted down over the next two years , and had practically disappeared by 2002 . A splinter group of the GIA that formed on the fringes of Kabylie in 1998 , called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ( GSPC ) , rejected the amnesty . It dissociated itself from the previous indiscriminate killing of civilians and reverted to the classic MIA - AIS tactics of targeting combatant forces . In October 2003 they announced their support for Al - Qaeda and in 2006 Ayman al - Zawahiri announced a " blessed union " between the two groups . In 2007 the group changed its name to Al - Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and continues to be active . Elections cancelled : a guerrilla war begins . The conflict began in December 1991 , when the Islamic Salvation Front ( FIS ) party gained popularity amongst the Algerian people prior to the 1991 Algerian elections and was on the verge of being elected to government . The army saw this outcome as unacceptable . The FIS had made open threats against the ruling " pouvoir " , condemning them as unpatriotic and pro - French , as well as financially corrupt . Additionally , FIS leadership was at best divided on the desirability of democracy , and some expressed fears that a FIS government would be , as U . S . Assistant Secretary of State Edward Djerejian put it , " one man , one vote , one time . " On January 11 , 1992 the army cancelled the electoral process , forcing President Chadli Bendjedid to resign and bringing in the exiled independence fighter Mohammed Boudiaf to serve as a new president . However , on 29 June 1992 he was assassinated by one of his bodyguards , a Lieutenant L . Boumaarafi . The assassin was sentenced to death in a closed trial in 1995 . The sentence was not carried out . So many FIS members were arrested — 5 , 000 by the army ' s account , 30 , 000 according to FIS , and including Abdelkader Hachani — that the jails had insufficient space to hold them in ; camps were set up for them in the Sahara desert , and bearded men feared to leave their houses lest they be arrested as FIS sympathizers . A state of emergency was declared , and many ordinary constitutional rights were suspended . Any protests that occurred were suppressed , and human rights organizations , such as Amnesty International , reported frequent government use of torture and holding of suspects without charge or trial . The government officially dissolved the FIS on March 4 . Of the few FIS activists that remained free , many took this as a declaration of war . Throughout much of the country , remaining FIS activists , along with some Islamists too radical for FIS , took to the hills with whatever weapons were available and became guerrilla fighters . Their first attacks on the security forces ( not counting the Guemmar incident ) began barely a week after the coup , and soldiers and policemen rapidly became targets . As in previous wars , the guerrillas were almost exclusively based in the mountains of northern Algeria , where the forest and scrub cover were well - suited to guerrilla warfare , and in certain areas of the cities ; the very sparsely populated but oil - rich Sahara would remain mostly peaceful for almost the entire duration of the conflict . This meant that the government ' s principal source of foreign exchange — oil exports — was largely unaffected . The tense situation was compounded by the economy , which collapsed even further that year , as almost all of the longstanding subsidies on food were eliminated . The hopes many placed in the seemingly untainted figure of Boudiaf were soon dashed when he fell to a bullet from one of his own security guards in late June . Soon afterwards , Abbassi Madani and Ali Belhadj were sentenced to 12 years in prison . By August 26 it had become apparent that some guerrillas were beginning to target civilians as well as government figures : the bombing of the Algiers airport claimed 9 lives and injured 128 people . The FIS condemned the bombing along with the other major parties , but the FIS ' s influence over the guerrillas turned out to be limited . The initial fighting appears to have been led by the small extremist group Takfir wal Hijra and associated ex - Afghan fighters . However , the first major armed movement to emerge , starting almost immediately after the coup , was the Islamic Armed Movement ( MIA ) . It was led by the ex - soldier Abdelkader Chebouti , a longstanding Islamist who had kept his distance from the FIS during the electoral process . In February 1992 , ex - soldier , ex - Afghan fighter , and former FIS head of security Said Mekhloufi founded the Movement for an Islamic State ( MEI ) . The various groups arranged several meetings to attempt to unite their forces , accepting the overall leadership of Chebouti in theory . At the last of these , at Tamesguida on September 1 , Chebouti expressed his concern about the movement ' s lack of discipline , in particular worrying that the Algiers airport attack , which he had not approved , could alienate supporters . Takfir wal Hijra and the Afghans ( led by Noureddine Seddiki ) responded by agreeing to join the MIA . However , the meeting was broken up by an assault from the security forces , provoking suspicions which prevented any further meetings . The FIS itself established an underground network , with clandestine newspapers and even an MIA - linked radio station , and began issuing official statements from abroad starting in late 1992 . However , at this stage the opinions of the guerrilla movements on the FIS were mixed ; while many supported FIS , a significant faction , led by the " Afghans " , regarded party political activity as inherently un - Islamic , and therefore rejected FIS statements . 1993 . In January 1993 , Abdelhak Layada declared his group independent of Chebouti ' s . The new faction was called the Armed Islamic Group ( GIA , from French " Groupe Islamique Armé " ) . It became particularly prominent around Algiers and its suburbs , in urban environments . It took a hardline position , opposed to both the government and the FIS , affirming that " political pluralism is equivalent to sedition " and issuing death threats against several FIS and MIA leaders . It was far less selective than the MIA , which insisted on ideological training ; as a result , it was regularly infiltrated by the security forces , resulting in a rapid leadership turnover as successive heads were killed . In 1993 , the divisions within the guerrilla movement became more distinct . The MIA and MEI , concentrated in the " maquis " , attempted to develop a military strategy against the state , typically targeting the security services and sabotaging or bombing state institutions . From its inception on , however , the GIA , concentrated in urban areas , called for and implemented the killing of anyone supporting the authorities , including government employees such as teachers and civil servants . It assassinated journalists and intellectuals ( such as Tahar Djaout ) , saying that " The journalists who fight against Islamism through the pen will perish by the sword . " . It soon stepped up its attacks by targeting civilians who refused to live by their prohibitions , and later in 1993 began killing foreigners , declaring that " anyone who exceeds that period [ a one - month deadline ] will be responsible for his own sudden death . " After a few conspicuous killings , virtually all foreigners left the country ; indeed , ( often illegal ) Algerian emigration too rose substantially , as people sought a way out . At the same time , the number of visas granted to Algerians by other countries began to drop substantially . Failed negotiations and guerrilla infighting . The violence continued throughout 1994 , although the economy began to improve during this time ; following negotiations with the IMF , the government succeeded in rescheduling debt repayments , providing it with a substantial financial windfall , and further obtained some 40 billion francs from the international community to back its economic liberalization . As it became obvious that the fighting would continue for some time , General Liamine Zéroual was named new president of the High Council of State ; he was considered to belong to the " dialoguiste " ( pro - negotiation ) rather than " éradicateur " ( eradicator ) faction of the army . Soon after taking office , he began negotiations with the imprisoned FIS leadership , releasing some prisoners by way of encouragement . The talks split the political spectrum ; the largest political parties , especially the socialist FLN and Kabyle socialist FFS , continued to call for compromise , while other forces — most notably the General Union of Algerian Workers ( UGTA ) , but including smaller leftist and feminist groups such as the ultra - secularist RCD — sided with the " eradicators " . A few shadowy pro - government paramilitaries , such as the Organisation of Young Free Algerians ( OJAL ) , emerged and began attacking civilian Islamist supporters . On March 10 , 1994 , over 1000 ( mainly Islamist ) prisoners escaped Tazoult prison in what appeared to be a major coup for the guerrillas ; later , conspiracy theorists would suggest that this had been staged to allow the security forces to infiltrate the GIA . Meanwhile , under Cherif Gousmi ( its leader since March ) , the GIA became the most high - profile guerrilla army in 1994 . In May , the FIS suffered an apparent blow as several of its leaders that were not jailed , along with the MEI ' s Said Makhloufi , joined the GIA ; since the GIA had been issuing death threats against them since November 1993 , this came as a surprise to many observers , who interpreted it either as the result of intra - FIS competition or as an attempt to change the GIA ' s course from within . On August 26 , the GIA even declared a caliphate , or Islamic government , for Algeria , with Gousmi as " Commander of the Faithful " . However , the very next day , Said Mekhloufi announced his withdrawal from the GIA , claiming that the GIA had deviated from Islam and that this caliphate was an effort by ex - FIS leader Mohammed Said to take over the GIA . The GIA continued attacks on its usual targets , notably assassinating artists , such as Cheb Hasni , and in late August added a new practice to its activities : threatening insufficiently Islamist schools with arson . FIS - loyal guerrillas , threatened with marginalization , attempted to unite their forces . In July 1994 , the MIA , together with the remainder of the MEI and a variety of smaller groups , united as the Islamic Salvation Army ( a term that had previously sometimes been used as a general label for pro - FIS guerrillas ) , declaring their allegiance to FIS and thus strengthening FIS ' s hand in the negotiations . By the end of 1994 , they controlled over half the guerrillas of the east and west , but barely 20 % in the center , near the capital , which was where the GIA were mainly based . They issued communiqués condemning the GIA ' s indiscriminate targeting of women , journalists and other civilians " not involved in the repression " , and attacked the GIA ' s school arson campaign . At the end of October , the government announced the failure of its negotiations with the FIS . Instead , Zéroual embarked on a new plan : he scheduled presidential elections for 1995 , while promoting " eradicationists " such as Lamari within the army and organizing " self - defense militias " in villages to fight the guerrillas . The end of 1994 saw a noticeable upsurge in violence . Over 1994 , Algeria ' s isolation deepened ; most foreign press agencies , such as Reuters , left the country this year , while the Moroccan border closed and the main foreign airlines cancelled all routes . The resulting gap in news coverage was further worsened by a government order in June banning Algerian media from reporting any terrorism - related news not covered in official press releases . A few FIS leaders , notably Rabah Kebir , had escaped into exile abroad . Upon the invitation of the Rome - based Community of Sant ' Egidio , in November 1994 , they began negotiations in Rome with other opposition parties , both Islamist and secular ( FLN , FFS , FIS , MDA , PT , JMC ) . They came out with a mutual agreement on January 14 , 1995 : the Sant ' Egidio platform . This presented a set of principles : respect for human rights and multi - party democracy , rejection of army rule and dictatorship , recognition of Islam , Arab and Berber ethnic identity as essential aspects of Algeria ' s national identity , demand for the release of FIS leaders , and an end to extrajudicial killing and torture on all sides . To the surprise of many , even Ali Belhadj endorsed the agreement , which meant that the FIS had returned into the legal framework , alongside with the other opposition parties . However , a crucial signatory was missing : the government itself . As a result , the platform ' s effect was at best limited - though some argue that , in the words of Andrea Riccardi who brokered the negotiations for the Community of Sant ' Egidio , “ the platform made the Algerian military leave the cage of a solely military confrontation and forced them to react with a political act ” , the 1995 presidential elections . The next few months saw the killing of some 100 Islamist prisoners in the Serkadji prison mutiny , and a major success for the security forces in battle at Ain Defla , resulting in the deaths of hundreds of guerrilla fighters . Cherif Gousmi was eventually succeeded by Djamel Zitouni as GIA head . Zitouni extended the GIA ' s attacks on civilians to French soil , beginning with the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969 at the end of December 1994 and continuing with several bombings and attempted bombings throughout 1995 . In Algeria itself , he continued likewise , with car bombs and assassinations of musicians , sportsmen , and unveiled women , as well as the usual victims . Even at this stage , the seemingly counterproductive nature of many of its attacks led to speculation ( encouraged by FIS members abroad ) that the group had been infiltrated by Algerian secret services . The region south of Algiers , in particular , came to be dominated by the GIA , who called it the " liberated zone " . Later , it would come to be known as the " Triangle of Death " . Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased , and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders , assassinating a co - founder of the FIS , Abdelbaki Sahraoui , in Paris . At this point , foreign sources estimated the total number of guerrillas to be about 27 , 000 . Politics resume , militias emerge . Following the breakdown of negotiations with the FIS , the government decided to hold presidential elections . On 16 November 1995 , Liamine Zéroual was elected president with 60 % of votes cast . The election , contested by many candidates , including the Islamists Mahfoud Nahnah ( 25 % ) and Noureddine Boukrouh . The results reflected various popular opinions , ranging from support for secularism and opposition to Islamism to a desire for an end to the violence , regardless of politics . Hopes grew that Algerian politics would finally be normalized . Zéroual followed this up by pushing through a new constitution in 1996 , substantially strengthening the power of the president and adding a second house that would be partly elected and partly appointed by the president . In November 1996 , the text was passed by a national referendum ; while the official turnout rate was 80 % , this vote was unmonitored , and the claimed high turnout was considered by most to be implausible . The government ' s political moves were combined with a substantial increase in the pro - government militias ' profile . " Self - defense militias " , often called " Patriots " for short , consisting of trusted local citizens trained by the army and given government weapons , were founded in towns near areas where guerrillas were active , and were promoted on national TV . The program was received well in some parts of the country , but was less popular in others ; it would be substantially increased over the next few years , particularly after the massacres of 1997 . The election results were a setback for the armed groups , who saw a significant increase in desertions immediately following the elections . The FIS ' Rabah Kebir responded to the apparent shift in popular mood by adopting a more conciliatory tone towards the government , but was condemned by some parts of the party and of the AIS . The GIA was shaken by internal dissension ; shortly after the election , its leadership killed the FIS leaders who had joined the GIA , accusing them of attempting a takeover . This purge accelerated the disintegration of the GIA : Mustapha Kartali , Ali Benhadjar and Hassan Hattab ' s factions all refused to recognize Zitouni ' s leadership starting around late 1995 , although they would not formally break away until later . In December , the GIA killed the AIS leader for central Algeria , Azzedine Baa , and in January pledged to fight the AIS as an enemy ; particularly in the west , full - scale battles between them became common . Massacres and reconciliation . In July 1996 GIA leader Djamel Zitouni was killed by one of the breakaway ex - GIA factions and was succeeded by Antar Zouabri , who would prove an even bloodier leader . Parliamentary elections were held on 5 June 1997 . They were dominated by the National Democratic Rally ( RND ) , a new party created in early 1997 for Zéroual ' s supporters , which got 156 out of 380 seats , followed mainly by the MSP ( as Hamas had been required to rename itself ) and the FLN at over 60 seats each . Views on this election were mixed ; most major opposition parties filed complaints , and the success of the extremely new RND raised eyebrows . The RND , FLN and MSP formed a coalition government , with the RND ' s Ahmed Ouyahia as prime minister . There were hints of a softening towards FIS : Abdelkader Hachani was released , and Abbassi Madani moved to house arrest . Village massacres . At this point , however , a new and vital problem emerged . Starting around April ( the Thalit massacre ) , Algeria was wracked by massacres of intense brutality and unprecedented size ; previous massacres had occurred in the conflict , but always on a substantially smaller scale . Typically targeting entire villages or neighborhoods and disregarding the age and sex of victims , killing tens , and sometimes hundreds , of civilians at a time . These massacres continued through the end of 1998 , changing the nature of the political situation considerably . The areas south and east of Algiers , which had voted strongly for FIS in 1991 , were hit particularly hard ; the Rais and Bentalha massacre s in particular shocked worldwide observers . Pregnant women were sliced open , children were hacked to pieces or dashed against walls , men ' s limbs were hacked off one by one , and , as the attackers retreated , they would kidnap young women to keep as sex slaves . Although this quotation by Nesroullah Yous , a survivor of Bentalha , may be an exaggeration , it expresses the apparent mood of the attackers : The GIA ' s responsibility for these massacres remains disputed ; it claimed credit for both Rais and Bentalha ( calling the killings an " offering to God " and the victims " impious " supporters of tyrants in a press release ) , and its policy of massacring civilians was cited by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat as one of the main reasons it split off from the GIA . At this stage , it had apparently adopted a " takfir ist " ideology , believing that practically all Algerians not actively fighting the government were corrupt to the point of being " kafir s " , and could be killed righteously with impunity ; an unconfirmed communiqué by Zouabri had stated that " except for those who are with us , all others are apostates and deserving of death . " In some cases , it has been suggested that the GIA were motivated to commit a massacre by a village ' s joining the Patriot program , which they saw as evidence of disloyalty ; in others , that rivalry with other groups ( e . g . , Mustapha Kartali ' s breakaway faction ) played a part . According to reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch army barracks were stationed within a few hundred meters of the villages , yet did nothing to stop the killings . At about the same time , a number of people claiming to be defectors from the Algerian security services ( such as Habib Souaidia ) , having fled to Western countries , alleged that the security services had themselves committed some of the massacres . These and other details raised suspicions that the state was in some way collaborating with , or even controlling parts of , the GIA ( particularly through infiltration by the secret services ) - a theory popularised by Nesroullah Yous , and FIS itself . This suggestion provoked furious reactions from some quarters in Algeria , and has been rejected by many academics , though others regard it as plausible . In contrast , Algerians such as Zazi Sadou , have collected testimonies by survivors that their attackers were unmasked and were recognised as local radicals - in one case even an elected member of the FIS . Robert D . Kaplan , writing in " The Atlantic Monthly " , dismissed insinuations of government involvement in the massacres ; " To people who had been watching Algeria ' s evolution , the assumption that sinister complicities within the Algerian state were involved in the assassinations and massacres was libelous . " However , as Youcef Bouandel notes ; " Regardless of the explanations one may have regarding the violence , the authorities credibility has been tarnished by its non - assistance to endangered civilian villagers being massacred in the vicinity of military barracks . " The AIS , which at this point was engaged in an all - out war with the GIA as well as the government , found itself in an untenable position . The GIA seemed a more immediately pressing enemy , and AIS members expressed fears that the massacres — which it had condemned more than once — would be blamed on them . On 21 September 1997 , the AIS ' head , Madani Mezrag , ordered a unilateral and unconditional ceasefire starting 1 October , in order to " unveil the enemy that hides behind these abominable massacres . " The AIS thus largely took itself out of the political equation , reducing the fighting to a struggle between the government , the GIA , and the various splinter groups that were increasingly breaking away from the GIA . Ali Benhadjar ' s FIS - loyalist Islamic League for Da ' wa and Jihad ( LIDD ) , formed in February 1997 , allied itself with the AIS and observed the same ceasefire . Over the next three years , the AIS would gradually negotiate an amnesty for its members . GIA destroyed , GSPC continues . After receiving much international pressure to act , the EU sent two delegations , one of them led by Mário Soares , to visit Algeria and investigate the massacres in the first half of 1998 ; their reports condemned the Islamist armed groups . Towns soon became safer , although massacres continued in rural areas . The GIA ' s policy of massacring civilians had already caused a split among its commanders , with some rejecting the policy ; on 14 September 1998 , this disagreement was formalized with the formation of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ( GSPC ) , based in the mountains west of Kabylie and led by Hassan Hattab . On September 11 , Zéroual surprised observers by announcing his resignation . New elections were arranged , and on April 15 , 1999 , the army - backed ex - independence - fighter Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected president with , according to the authorities , 74 % of the votes . All the other candidates had withdrawn from the election shortly before , citing fraud concerns . Bouteflika continued negotiations with the AIS , and on June 5 the AIS agreed , in principle , to disband . Bouteflika followed up this success for the government by pardoning a number of Islamist prisoners convicted of minor offenses and pushing the Civil Harmony Act through parliament , a law allowing Islamist fighters not guilty of murder or rape to escape all prosecution if they turn themselves in . This law was finally approved by referendum on 16 September 1999 , and a number of fighters , including Mustapha Kartali , took advantage of it to give themselves up and resume normal life — sometimes angering those who had suffered at the hands of the guerrillas . FIS leadership expressed dissatisfaction with the results , feeling that the AIS had stopped fighting without solving any of the issues ; but their main voice outside of prison , Abdelkader Hachani , was assassinated on November 22 . Violence declined , though not stopping altogether , and a sense of normality started returning to Algeria . The AIS fully disbanded after 11 January 2000 , having negotiated a special amnesty with the government . The GIA , torn by splits and desertions and denounced by all sides even in the Islamist movement , was slowly destroyed by army operations over the next few years ; by the time of Antar Zouabri ' s death in early 2002 , it was effectively incapacitated . The government ' s efforts were given a boost in the aftermath of the September 11 , 2001 attacks ; United States sympathy for Algeria ' s government increased , and was expressed concretely through such actions as the freezing of GIA and GSPC assets and the supply of infrared goggles to the army . With the GIA ' s decline , the GSPC was left as the most active rebel group , with about 300 fighters in 2003 . It continued a campaign of assassinations of police and army personnel in its area , and also managed to expand into the Sahara , where its southern division , led by Amari Saifi ( nicknamed " Abderrezak el - Para " , the " paratrooper " ) , kidnapped a number of German tourists in 2003 , before being forced to flee to sparsely populated areas of Mali , and later Niger and Chad , where he was captured . By late 2003 , the group ' s founder had been supplanted by the even more radical Nabil Sahraoui , who announced his open support for al - Qaeda , thus strengthening government ties between the U . S . and Algeria . He was reportedly killed shortly afterwards , and was succeeded by Abou Mossaab Abdelouadoud in 2004 . 2004 presidential election and the amnesty . The release of FIS leaders Madani and Belhadj in 2003 had no observable effect on the situation , illustrating a newfound governmental confidence which would be deepened by the 2004 presidential election , in which Bouteflika was reelected by 85 % with support from two major parties and one faction of the third major party . The vote was seen as confirming strong popular support for Bouteflika ' s policy towards the guerrillas and the successful termination of large - scale violence . In September 2005 a national referendum was held on an amnesty proposal by Bouteflika ' s government , similar to the 1999 law , to end legal proceedings against individuals who were no longer fighting , and to provide compensation to families of people killed by government forces . The controversial Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation was declared to have won with 97 % support , and with 80 % of participation . The conditions of the campaign in Algeria were criticized in the French press , in particular in " Le Monde " and " L ' Humanité " . Lawyer Ali Merabet , for example , founder of " Somoud " , a NGO which represents the families of the disappeared , was opposed to the Charter which would “ force the victims to grant forgiveness ” . He remains wary that the time of the FIS has truly ended and notes that while people no longer support them , the project of the FIS - which he denies is Islamic - still exists and remains a threat . The proposal was implemented by Presidential decree in February 2006 , and adopted on September 29 , 2006 . Particularly controversial was its provision of immunity against prosecution to surrendered ex - guerrillas ( for all but the worst crimes ) and Army personnel ( for any action " safeguarding the nation " . ) According to Algerian paper " El Khabar " , over 400 GSPC guerrillas surrendered under its terms ; estimates of the GSPC ' s size in 2005 had ranged from 300 to 1000 . The International Federation of Human Rights ( FIDH ) has opposed the amnesty The fighting has continued to die down but a state of emergency remained in place . The state of emergency was lifted in February 2011 due to renewed protests amidst the ongoing Arab Spring . Death toll . Then President Bouteﬂika said in 1999 that 100 , 000 people had died by that time and in a speech on 25 February 2005 , spoke of a round figure of 150 , 000 people killed in the war . These figures , not broken down into insurgents , state forces and civilians , are commonly cited as the war ' s death toll . However this estimate may be too high . A 2008 study found about 26 , 000 people killed , through combat operations , massacres , bombings and assassinations , alongside 18 , 000 people , ' disappeared ' and presumed killed in secret . This would give a total death toll of around 44 , 000 people .