The French-language Liberte newspaper in Algeria carried a scathing article by columnist Salim Tamani in its September 21, 2003 edition. The spark for the opinion piece was a September 18, 2003, ambush in the Ain Defla region, carried out by the local Armed Islamic Group, in which nine Algerian soldiers were killed. A similar attack reportedly took place yesterday (September 30) in Montgorno, south of Algiers. Eight Algerian soldiers were killed in the latest ambush.
The columnist, Tamani, noted bitterly that the September 18th attack took place “while on the other side of town they were celebrating the fourth commemoration of the general amnesty issued by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2000. Those who are asking for a cease-fire are the same ones that are threatening the state’s stability.”
But the blame for the continued terrorism and insurgency, Tamani wrote, is not only on the Islamist gangs, rather “The Algerian tragedy of this continued violence is mainly due to the government’s failure to learn from its past mistakes. While the whole world is fighting Islamism, Bouteflika is actively seeking a compromise with them. Although the country has been the victim of terrible massacres for years and has always asked for international help, the government has failed to take any adequate decisions to combat terrorism and end the violence.”
Tamani also has a theory as to why the Bouteflika regime has not been fighting terrorism - which the Liberte columnist called “the chance to join the international community with this fight [against Islamist terrorism]: “We see this happening because Bouteflika is keen on winning the Islamist vote, because without it he will fail to secure a second mandate.”
Tamani’s critique may have been too hasty, however, as, according to Algerian news reports this week, the Algerian army killed 150 Islamist terrorists during the past two weeks of an ongoing government counterterrorism offensive. According to the Algerian daily al-Watan, 105 of the terrorists met their deaths in the caves near the Babour Mountains, several hundred kilometers away from Algiers.
The Islamist terrorists reportedly fled to the mountain caves in the eastern part of the country with the initiation of the Algerian military solution to terrorism. However, they resorted to taking women and children hostage as they fled, but released many of their captives last week. Another Algerian paper, al-Youm, reported that 20 armed men and 35 women are still hiding in the eastern hills.
The columnist, Tamani, noted bitterly that the September 18th attack took place “while on the other side of town they were celebrating the fourth commemoration of the general amnesty issued by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2000. Those who are asking for a cease-fire are the same ones that are threatening the state’s stability.”
But the blame for the continued terrorism and insurgency, Tamani wrote, is not only on the Islamist gangs, rather “The Algerian tragedy of this continued violence is mainly due to the government’s failure to learn from its past mistakes. While the whole world is fighting Islamism, Bouteflika is actively seeking a compromise with them. Although the country has been the victim of terrible massacres for years and has always asked for international help, the government has failed to take any adequate decisions to combat terrorism and end the violence.”
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Tamani’s critique may have been too hasty, however, as, according to Algerian news reports this week, the Algerian army killed 150 Islamist terrorists during the past two weeks of an ongoing government counterterrorism offensive. According to the Algerian daily al-Watan, 105 of the terrorists met their deaths in the caves near the Babour Mountains, several hundred kilometers away from Algiers.
The Islamist terrorists reportedly fled to the mountain caves in the eastern part of the country with the initiation of the Algerian military solution to terrorism. However, they resorted to taking women and children hostage as they fled, but released many of their captives last week. Another Algerian paper, al-Youm, reported that 20 armed men and 35 women are still hiding in the eastern hills.