ALGIERS, Sept 30: Algerians have voted overwhelmingly to turn the page on a decade of brutal civil war by offering a partial amnesty to hundreds of militants. The conflict, which has cost more than 150,000 lives, pitted neighbour against neighbour and isolated the oil-producing Arab state from the rest of the world amid allegations of crimes by security forces.
Interior Minister Noureddine Zerhouni said on Friday that results showed 97.4 per cent of Algerian voters backed Thursday’s referendum on a ‘charter for peace and national reconciliation’, which saw a participation level of 80 per cent of 18.3 million eligible voters.
“The time has come to turn the page on hate and violence. As Muslims we have to unify and believe that the future is going to be better than the past,” 45-year-old shop owner Mohamed Lamri said.
Human rights groups and some families of the victims of the conflict fear the security forces, accused of being behind thousands of disappearances, will now never stand trial.
The controversial charter praised the powerful army and state agents in their fight against militants. It also blamed the militants for what it called a ‘national tragedy’.
Some opposition parties accuse President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of planning to use the vaguely worded charter to push through laws to strengthen his grip on the oil-producing state.
“It’s a plebiscite organized by the regime to realize the ambitions of Bouteflika and extend his power,” Hocine Ait Ahmed, exiled leader of the opposition Socialist Forces Front, told Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve. “The results will be fraudulent.”
The conflict began after the army cancelled the second round of Algeria’s first multi-party legislative election, which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was on course to win in 1992.
Voting was marred by violence in several provinces in the east of the country, particularly in the restive Berber region of Kabylie, where opposition parties had called for a boycott. Participation in the main Berber city of Tizi Ouzou was a mere 11.5 per cent.
In provinces hardest hit by 13 years of civil war, participation exceeded 90 per cent.
“The vote was done in total transparency,” Mr Zerhouni told a news conference.
However, there were no independent organizations monitoring the ballot and analysts questioned the stated high level of participation given that many polling stations were half-empty.
FORGIVE AND FORGET? Most Algerians said they are ready to forgive, although the cruelty witnessed is still poorly understood. Militants have been accused of going from village to village at night, beheading entire families.
Rights groups and some of the opposition said Algeria should not put the bloody past behind but seek accountability and truth or else the nightmare will not fade away.
Souad Zafar, who survived a massacre in Bentalha near Algiers in 1997, said she backed the referendum for her son to have a future but would not forgive the rebels who she watched kill seven members of her family.
The charter will pardon hundreds of rebels in prison, on the run or still fighting and drop other legal proceedings. Those involved in massacres are excluded, but critics say a patchy judicial system will mean some culprits will be spared justice.
Around 1,000 militants, most belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), remain active and carry out sporadic deadly attacks, mostly against soldiers.—Reuters
ALGIERS, Sept 30: Algerians have voted overwhelmingly to turn the page on a decade of brutal civil war by offering a partial amnesty to hundreds of militants. The conflict, which has cost more than 150,000 lives, pitted neighbour against neighbour and isolated the oil-producing Arab state from the rest of the world amid allegations of crimes by security forces.
