Islamic Salvation Front
Encyclopedia
The Islamic Salvation Front (Arabic
: الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; ) is an outlawed Islamist political party
in Algeria
.
ruled by sharia
law. FIS hurriedly assembled a platform in 1989, the Projet de Programme du Front Islamique du Salut, which was widely criticized as vague. Following the first National Assembly ballot, it issued a second pamphlet. Economically, it strongly criticized Algeria's planned economy
, urging the need to "protect the private sector" and encourage competition - earning it support from traders and small businessmen - and urged the establishment of Islamic banking
(i.e. interest-free banking.)
Socially, it suggested that women should be given a financial incentive to stay at home rather than working outside, thus protecting sexual segregation (Ali Belhadj called it immoral for men and women to work in the same office) and increasing the number of jobs available to men in a time of chronic unemployment. Educationally, the party was committed to continuing Arabization of the educational system by shifting the language of instruction in more institutions, such as medical and technological schools, from French to Arabic; this measure struck a particular chord with the large numbers of recent graduates, the first post-independence generation educated mainly in Arabic, who found the continued use of French in higher education and public life jarring and disadvantageous to themselves.
Politically, the contradiction between Madani and Belhadj's words was noteworthy: Madani condemned violence "from wherever it came" (El Moudjahid, 26 December 1989), and expressed his commitment to democracy and resolve to "respect the minority, even if it is composed of one vote" (Jeune Afrique, 12 February 1990), while Belhadj said simply that "There is no democracy in Islam" (El-Bayane, Dec. 1989) and "If people vote against the Law of God... this is nothing other than blasphemy. The ulama will order the death of the offenders who have substituted their authority for that of God" (Horizons 23 February 1989). In an interview with Daniel Pipes
and Patrick Clawson
, Anwar Haddam
rejected this view of Belhadj, saying, "He has been misquoted. He has been accused of things out of bitterness. He wrote a book in which he expressed himself clearly in favor of democracy. In it, he writes on page 91 that "the West progressed by defeating tyranny and preserving freedoms; this is the secret of the Western world's remarkable progress." Belhadj refers many times to the Western world and to those very values that people are trying to deny us within our own borders."
The ideas, methods and beliefs of FIS have been critically assessed by a contemporary Algerian Islamic scholar, Shaykh Abdul-Malik ar-Ramadani al-Jaza'iri in his book Madarik un-Nadhr fi's-Siyasah: Bayna't-Tatbiqat ash-Shar'iyyah wa'l-Infia'lat al-Hamasiyyah [Perceptions of Viewing Politics: Between the Divinely Legislated Application and Enthusiastic Disturbances],(KSA: Dar Sabeel il-Mumineen, 1418 AH/1997 CE, 2nd Edn). The book contained prefaces by Shaykh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaanee
and Shaykh Abdul-Muhsin al-'Abbaad.
. The FIS was founded shortly afterwards in Algiers
on February 18, 1989, led by an elderly sheikh, Abbassi Madani
, and a charismatic young mosque preacher, Ali Belhadj
. Its views ranged across a wide spectrum of Islamist opinion, exemplified by its two leaders. Abbassi Madani
, a professor at University of Algiers and ex-independence fighter, represented a relatively moderate religious conservatism and symbolically connected the party to the Algerian War of Independence
, the traditionally emphasized source of the ruling FLN
's legitimacy.
Ali Belhadj
a high school teacher appealing to a younger and less educated class, made aggressively radical speeches that attracted dissatisfied lower-class youth and alarmed non-Islamists and feminists. He purportedly represents a salafi
branch. Madani sometimes expressed support for multiparty democracy
, whereas Belhadj denounced it as a potential threat to sharia
. Their support of free market
trading and opposition to the ruling elite also attracted middle class traders who felt left out of the economy.
Their support base rapidly increased, with the help of activists preaching in friendly mosque
s, and on June 12, 1990, they swept the local elections
with 54% of votes cast, taking 46% of town assemblies and 55% of wilaya assemblies. Its supporters were especially concentrated in urban areas: it secured 93% of towns/cities of over 50,000. Its rapid rise alarmed the government, which moved to curtail the powers of local government.
The Gulf War
further energized the party. Although FIS had condemned Saddam Hussein
's invasion of Kuwait
, public opinion shifted in Iraq's favor once it was apparent that Western intervention was inevitable, and FIS made political capital out of outdoing the government in gestures opposing Desert Storm, including massive demonstrations, blood donation drives, and even calls for volunteers to fight in Iraq.
directed against it. The strike itself was a failure, but the demonstrations FIS organized in Algiers were huge, and succeeded in pressuring the government; it was persuaded in June to call the strike off by the promise of fair parliamentary elections.
However, disagreements on the strike provoked open dissension among the FIS leadership (the Madjliss ech-Choura), and the prolonged demonstrations alarmed the military. Shortly afterwards the government arrested Madani and Belhadj on June 30, 1991, having already arrested a number of lower-ranking members. The party, however, remained legal, and passed to the effective leadership of Abdelkader Hachani
after four days of contested leadership by Mohamed Said (who was then arrested).
The rise of the party continued despite the arrests, though its activists were angered as its demands for the leaders' release went unheeded. After some deliberation, it agreed to participate in the next elections, after expelling dissenters such as Said Mekhloufi and Kamareddine Kherbane, who advocated direct action against the government. On December 26, 1991, the FIS handily won the first round of parliamentary elections
; with 48% of the overall popular vote, they won 188 of the 231 seats contested in that round, putting them far ahead of rivals.
The army saw the seeming certainty of resulting FIS rule as unacceptable. On January 11, 1992, it 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. Many FIS members were arrested, including FIS number three leader Abdelkader Hachani
on January 22. A state of emergency was declared, and the government officially dissolved FIS on March 4. On July 12, Abbassi Madani and Ali Belhadj were sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Such activists as remained at large took this as a declaration of war, though FIS would not officially call for armed resistance until 1993, attempting to steer a nuanced course of expressing sympathy for the guerrillas without endorsing their actions. Many took to the hills and joined guerrilla groups. The country inexorably slid into a civil war
which would claim more than 100,000 lives, from which it only began to emerge at the end of the 1990s. Initially, the guerrillas were led by members of non-FIS groups, such as Mustafa Bouyali
's supporters and people who had fought in Afghanistan, although FIS itself established an underground network, led by Mohamed Said and Abderrezak Redjam, setting up clandestine newspapers and even a radio station with close links to the MIA. From late 1992, they also began issuing official statements from abroad, led by Rabah Kebir and Anwar Haddam
.
Soon after taking office in 1994, Liamine Zeroual
began negotiations with the imprisoned FIS leadership, releasing some prisoners (including such figures as Ali Djeddi and Abdelkader Boukhamkham) by way of encouragement. These first negotiations collapsed in March, as each accused the other of reneging on agreements; but further, initially secret, negotiations would take place over the following months.
(Groupe Islamique Armé or GIA), hostile to FIS as well as to the government, rose to the forefront, FIS-loyalist 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' hand for the negotiations. It was initially headed by MIA's Abdelkader Chebouti, who was superseded in November 1994 by MEI's Madani Mezrag.
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, where the GIA were mainly based. Their main leadership was based in the Beni Khettab mountains near Jijel
. It issued communiqués condemning the GIA's indiscriminate targeting of women, journalists, and other civilians "not involved in the repression", and attacking its school arson campaign.
Meanwhile, following letters from Madani and Belhadj expressing a commitment to pluralistic democracy and proposing possible solutions to the crisis, the government released both from jail to house arrest on September 13. However, no let up was observed in the fighting, and the government was unwilling to allow them to consult with FIS figures that remained in prison; the negotiations soon foundered, and at the end of October the government announced the failure of the second round of negotiations, and published incriminating letters from Belhadj that were allegedly found on the body of GIA leader Cherif Gousmi, who had been killed on September 26.
. This set forth a set of principles: respect for human rights and multiparty democracy, rejection of army rule and dictatorship, recognition of Islam
, Arab
ness, and Berberness
as essential aspects of Algerianness, 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. However, a crucial signatory was missing: the government itself. As a result, the platform had little if any effect.
Despite the government's extremely hostile reaction to the Rome Platform, though, a third attempt at negotiations took place, starting in April with a letter from Madani condemning acts of violence, and hopes were raised. However, the FIS did not offer enough concessions to satisfy the government, demanding, as usual, that FIS leaders should be released before FIS could call for a ceasefire. In July Zeroual announced that the talks had failed, for the last time.
In 1995, the GIA turned on the AIS in earnest. Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased (resulting in an estimated 60 deaths in March 1995 alone), and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, claiming to be the "sole prosecutor of jihad" and angered by their negotiation attempts. On July 11, they assassinated a co-founder of FIS, Abdelbaki Sahraoui
, in Paris (although some question the authenticity of their statement claiming credit for this.)
On July 2, 2003, Belhadj and Madani were released. (The former had been in jail, the latter had been moved to house arrest in 1997.) Foreign media were banned from covering the event locally, and FIS itself remains banned. However, their release has had little apparent impact. After a decade of vicious civil conflict, there was little enthusiasm in Algeria for reopening old wounds.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; ) is an outlawed Islamist political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
Goals
FIS's founders disagreed (and disagree) on a variety of points, but agreed on the core objective of establishing an Islamic StateIslamic State
An Islamic state is a type of government, in which the primary basis for government is Islamic religious law...
ruled by sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law. FIS hurriedly assembled a platform in 1989, the Projet de Programme du Front Islamique du Salut, which was widely criticized as vague. Following the first National Assembly ballot, it issued a second pamphlet. Economically, it strongly criticized Algeria's planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
, urging the need to "protect the private sector" and encourage competition - earning it support from traders and small businessmen - and urged the establishment of Islamic banking
Islamic banking
Islamic banking is banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of Islamic law and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. Sharia prohibits the fixed or floating payment or acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money...
(i.e. interest-free banking.)
Socially, it suggested that women should be given a financial incentive to stay at home rather than working outside, thus protecting sexual segregation (Ali Belhadj called it immoral for men and women to work in the same office) and increasing the number of jobs available to men in a time of chronic unemployment. Educationally, the party was committed to continuing Arabization of the educational system by shifting the language of instruction in more institutions, such as medical and technological schools, from French to Arabic; this measure struck a particular chord with the large numbers of recent graduates, the first post-independence generation educated mainly in Arabic, who found the continued use of French in higher education and public life jarring and disadvantageous to themselves.
Politically, the contradiction between Madani and Belhadj's words was noteworthy: Madani condemned violence "from wherever it came" (El Moudjahid, 26 December 1989), and expressed his commitment to democracy and resolve to "respect the minority, even if it is composed of one vote" (Jeune Afrique, 12 February 1990), while Belhadj said simply that "There is no democracy in Islam" (El-Bayane, Dec. 1989) and "If people vote against the Law of God... this is nothing other than blasphemy. The ulama will order the death of the offenders who have substituted their authority for that of God" (Horizons 23 February 1989). In an interview with Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
and Patrick Clawson
Patrick Clawson
Patrick Lyell Clawson is an American economist and Middle East scholar. He is currently the Director for Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and senior editor of Middle East Quarterly....
, Anwar Haddam
Anwar Haddam
Anwar Haddam was a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front , a Islamist party in Algeria, and was elected to parliament on a FIS ticket in 1991 - Algeria's first multiparty elections...
rejected this view of Belhadj, saying, "He has been misquoted. He has been accused of things out of bitterness. He wrote a book in which he expressed himself clearly in favor of democracy. In it, he writes on page 91 that "the West progressed by defeating tyranny and preserving freedoms; this is the secret of the Western world's remarkable progress." Belhadj refers many times to the Western world and to those very values that people are trying to deny us within our own borders."
The ideas, methods and beliefs of FIS have been critically assessed by a contemporary Algerian Islamic scholar, Shaykh Abdul-Malik ar-Ramadani al-Jaza'iri in his book Madarik un-Nadhr fi's-Siyasah: Bayna't-Tatbiqat ash-Shar'iyyah wa'l-Infia'lat al-Hamasiyyah [Perceptions of Viewing Politics: Between the Divinely Legislated Application and Enthusiastic Disturbances],(KSA: Dar Sabeel il-Mumineen, 1418 AH/1997 CE, 2nd Edn). The book contained prefaces by Shaykh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaanee
Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaanee
Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani was an influential Albanian Salafi Islamic scholar of the 20th Century; he specialised in the fields of hadith and fiqh. He was also a prolific writer and speaker.-Early life:...
and Shaykh Abdul-Muhsin al-'Abbaad.
Foundation
On November 3, 1988, the Algerian Constitution was amended to allow parties other than the ruling FLNNational Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
. The FIS was founded shortly afterwards in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
on February 18, 1989, led by an elderly sheikh, Abbassi Madani
Abbassi Madani
Dr. Abbassi Madani was born in 1931 at Diyar Ben Aissa, Sidi Okba . He was the President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria...
, and a charismatic young mosque preacher, Ali Belhadj
Ali Belhadj
Ali Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front .Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents of Mauritanian origin from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s...
. Its views ranged across a wide spectrum of Islamist opinion, exemplified by its two leaders. Abbassi Madani
Abbassi Madani
Dr. Abbassi Madani was born in 1931 at Diyar Ben Aissa, Sidi Okba . He was the President of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria...
, a professor at University of Algiers and ex-independence fighter, represented a relatively moderate religious conservatism and symbolically connected the party to the Algerian War of Independence
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...
, the traditionally emphasized source of the ruling FLN
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
's legitimacy.
Ali Belhadj
Ali Belhadj
Ali Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front .Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents of Mauritanian origin from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s...
a high school teacher appealing to a younger and less educated class, made aggressively radical speeches that attracted dissatisfied lower-class youth and alarmed non-Islamists and feminists. He purportedly represents a salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
branch. Madani sometimes expressed support for multiparty democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, whereas Belhadj denounced it as a potential threat to sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Their support of free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
trading and opposition to the ruling elite also attracted middle class traders who felt left out of the economy.
Their support base rapidly increased, with the help of activists preaching in friendly mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, and on June 12, 1990, they swept the local elections
Algerian local elections, 1990
The Algerian local elections of 1990 were the first multiparty elections to take place in independent Algeria.-APC Results:PartyVotesShare of VoteCouncilsSeatsFIS4,331,47254.3%8535,987FLN2,245,79828.1%4874,799...
with 54% of votes cast, taking 46% of town assemblies and 55% of wilaya assemblies. Its supporters were especially concentrated in urban areas: it secured 93% of towns/cities of over 50,000. Its rapid rise alarmed the government, which moved to curtail the powers of local government.
The Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
further energized the party. Although FIS had condemned Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's invasion of Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, public opinion shifted in Iraq's favor once it was apparent that Western intervention was inevitable, and FIS made political capital out of outdoing the government in gestures opposing Desert Storm, including massive demonstrations, blood donation drives, and even calls for volunteers to fight in Iraq.
General strike and arrests of leadership
In May 1991, the FIS called for a general strike to protest the government's redrawing of electoral districts, which it saw as gerrymanderingGerrymandering
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts...
directed against it. The strike itself was a failure, but the demonstrations FIS organized in Algiers were huge, and succeeded in pressuring the government; it was persuaded in June to call the strike off by the promise of fair parliamentary elections.
However, disagreements on the strike provoked open dissension among the FIS leadership (the Madjliss ech-Choura), and the prolonged demonstrations alarmed the military. Shortly afterwards the government arrested Madani and Belhadj on June 30, 1991, having already arrested a number of lower-ranking members. The party, however, remained legal, and passed to the effective leadership of Abdelkader Hachani
Abdelkader Hachani
Abdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front , an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly...
after four days of contested leadership by Mohamed Said (who was then arrested).
The rise of the party continued despite the arrests, though its activists were angered as its demands for the leaders' release went unheeded. After some deliberation, it agreed to participate in the next elections, after expelling dissenters such as Said Mekhloufi and Kamareddine Kherbane, who advocated direct action against the government. On December 26, 1991, the FIS handily won the first round of parliamentary elections
Algerian National Assembly elections, 1991
Parliamentary elections were held in Algeria on 26 December 1991. The first multi-party elections since independence, they were cancelled by a military coup after the first round, triggering the Algerian Civil War, after the military expressed concerns that the Islamic Salvation Front, which was...
; with 48% of the overall popular vote, they won 188 of the 231 seats contested in that round, putting them far ahead of rivals.
The army saw the seeming certainty of resulting FIS rule as unacceptable. On January 11, 1992, it cancelled the electoral process, forcing President Chadli Bendjedid
Chadli Bendjedid
Chadli Bendjedid was the sixth President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992.-Early career:...
to resign and bringing in the exiled independence fighter Mohammed Boudiaf to serve as a new president. Many FIS members were arrested, including FIS number three leader Abdelkader Hachani
Abdelkader Hachani
Abdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front , an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly...
on January 22. A state of emergency was declared, and the government officially dissolved FIS on March 4. On July 12, Abbassi Madani and Ali Belhadj were sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Such activists as remained at large took this as a declaration of war, though FIS would not officially call for armed resistance until 1993, attempting to steer a nuanced course of expressing sympathy for the guerrillas without endorsing their actions. Many took to the hills and joined guerrilla groups. The country inexorably slid into a civil war
Algerian Civil War
The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 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...
which would claim more than 100,000 lives, from which it only began to emerge at the end of the 1990s. Initially, the guerrillas were led by members of non-FIS groups, such as Mustafa Bouyali
Mustafa Bouyali
Mustafa Bouyali was the leader of the Algerian Islamic Armed Movement, a guerrilla group based around Larbaa south of Algiers, from 1982 to 1987....
's supporters and people who had fought in Afghanistan, although FIS itself established an underground network, led by Mohamed Said and Abderrezak Redjam, setting up clandestine newspapers and even a radio station with close links to the MIA. From late 1992, they also began issuing official statements from abroad, led by Rabah Kebir and Anwar Haddam
Anwar Haddam
Anwar Haddam was a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front , a Islamist party in Algeria, and was elected to parliament on a FIS ticket in 1991 - Algeria's first multiparty elections...
.
Soon after taking office in 1994, Liamine Zeroual
Liamine Zéroual
Liamine Zéroual was the ninth President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
began negotiations with the imprisoned FIS leadership, releasing some prisoners (including such figures as Ali Djeddi and Abdelkader Boukhamkham) by way of encouragement. These first negotiations collapsed in March, as each accused the other of reneging on agreements; but further, initially secret, negotiations would take place over the following months.
Founding of the Islamic Salvation Army
As the radical Armed Islamic GroupArmed Islamic Group
The Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
(Groupe Islamique Armé or GIA), hostile to FIS as well as to the government, rose to the forefront, FIS-loyalist 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' hand for the negotiations. It was initially headed by MIA's Abdelkader Chebouti, who was superseded in November 1994 by MEI's Madani Mezrag.
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, where the GIA were mainly based. Their main leadership was based in the Beni Khettab mountains near Jijel
Jijel
Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants .Jijel is the administrative and trade centre for a region specializing in cork processing, leather...
. It issued communiqués condemning the GIA's indiscriminate targeting of women, journalists, and other civilians "not involved in the repression", and attacking its school arson campaign.
Meanwhile, following letters from Madani and Belhadj expressing a commitment to pluralistic democracy and proposing possible solutions to the crisis, the government released both from jail to house arrest on September 13. However, no let up was observed in the fighting, and the government was unwilling to allow them to consult with FIS figures that remained in prison; the negotiations soon foundered, and at the end of October the government announced the failure of the second round of negotiations, and published incriminating letters from Belhadj that were allegedly found on the body of GIA leader Cherif Gousmi, who had been killed on September 26.
Work in exile
A few FIS leaders, notably Rabah Kebir, had escaped into exile abroad. During 1994, they carried out negotiations in Italy with other political parties, notably the FLN and FFS, and came out with a mutual agreement on January 14, 1995: the Sant'Egidio platformSant'Egidio platform
The Sant'Egidio Platform of January 13, 1995 was an attempt by most of the major Algerian opposition parties to put an end to the Algerian Civil War, which had begun in 1992 as a military coup d'état overturned election results that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front , an Islamic party,...
. This set forth a set of principles: respect for human rights and multiparty democracy, rejection of army rule and dictatorship, recognition of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
ness, and Berberness
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
as essential aspects of Algerianness, 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. However, a crucial signatory was missing: the government itself. As a result, the platform had little if any effect.
Despite the government's extremely hostile reaction to the Rome Platform, though, a third attempt at negotiations took place, starting in April with a letter from Madani condemning acts of violence, and hopes were raised. However, the FIS did not offer enough concessions to satisfy the government, demanding, as usual, that FIS leaders should be released before FIS could call for a ceasefire. In July Zeroual announced that the talks had failed, for the last time.
In 1995, the GIA turned on the AIS in earnest. Reports of battles between the AIS and GIA increased (resulting in an estimated 60 deaths in March 1995 alone), and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, claiming to be the "sole prosecutor of jihad" and angered by their negotiation attempts. On July 11, they assassinated a co-founder of FIS, Abdelbaki Sahraoui
Abdelbaki Sahraoui
Abdelbaki Sahraoui was a co-founder of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria.He was born in 1910 in Constantine, Algeria. In 1926, he joined the circle of Sheikh Mubarak el-Mili. Five years later, he was conscripted by the French army, where he spent two years. He then moved to Algiers, where...
, in Paris (although some question the authenticity of their statement claiming credit for this.)
Declaration of ceasefire
The AIS, faced with attacks from both sides and wanting to dissociate itself from the GIA's civilian massacres, declared a unilateral ceasefire on September 21, 1997 (in order to "unveil the enemy who hides behind these abominable massacres"), and disbanded in 1999. Thousands of AIS fighters surrendered and handed over their weapons to the authorities. In January 2000 those fighters obtained amnesty under the terms of the "Civil Concord" decreed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after his election in April 1999. Both Mezrag and Benaïcha offered their services to the authorities to fight the GIA and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has links to al-Qaida.On July 2, 2003, Belhadj and Madani were released. (The former had been in jail, the latter had been moved to house arrest in 1997.) Foreign media were banned from covering the event locally, and FIS itself remains banned. However, their release has had little apparent impact. After a decade of vicious civil conflict, there was little enthusiasm in Algeria for reopening old wounds.
See also
- Algerian Civil WarAlgerian Civil WarThe Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 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...
- Charter for Peace and National ReconciliationCharter for Peace and National ReconciliationThe Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation was a charter proposed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in an attempt to bring closure to the Algerian Civil War by offering an amnesty for most violence committed in it...
- IntegrismIntegrismIntegrism is a term coined in early 20th century polemics within the Catholic Church, especially in France, as an epithet to describe those who opposed the "modernists", who sought to create a synthesis between Christian theology and the liberal philosophy of secular modernity. The term was...