DATE=10/21/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=ALGERIA / PEACE
NUMBER=5-44578
BYLINE=LISA BRYANT
DATELINE=ALGIERS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In a referendum last month, Algerians gave
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika overwhelming support
for a reconciliation program to end the country's 7
year civil war. But now, as Lisa Bryant reports from
Algeria, some Algerians are raising fresh doubts about
whether Mr. Bouteflika can deliver peace.
TEXT: //SOUNDS OF KIDS AND MUSIC PLAYING, ESTABLISH
AND FADE//
Day after day, Aldjia Matoub sits amid plastic flowers
and giant posters of her son, keeping a one-woman
vigil at a mountaintop village southeast of Algiers.
The sounds of schoolchildren mingle with the sounds of
the music that made her son, Lounes Matoub, so famous
- not only as a singer, but as a champion of the
struggles of Algeria's Berber minority.
Like tens of thousands of Algerians, Matoub was killed
in the violence that has ripped this country apart
since 1992. The 42-year-old singer died in a hail of
bullets last year, as he drove up a mountain road near
his mother's home. Now, Mrs. Matoub says she is
waiting for justice -- justice that President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised her would be rendered.
//ACT MATOUB SPEAKING IN THE BERBER LANGUAGE, KNOWN AS
TAMAZIR, ESTABLISH AND FADE//
Mrs. Matoub says she wants an inquiry into her son's
death. The singer was allegedly killed by Islamic
militants. But so far, she says, Mr. Bouteflika has
not launched the investigation he promised.
As for the chances that she could ever forgive her
son's killers, Mrs. Matoub offers a fierce, one-word
reply. Never, she says.
The government has already pardoned thousands of
Islamic militants and their supporters. But President
Bouteflika's amnesty measure does not include those
who have committed the bloodiest crimes. In an
apparent signal of his commitment to end the violence,
the President also warned this month that he would
resign in January if he is not able to make the
reconciliation program a success.
Mrs. Matoub is not the only one waiting to see what
Algeria's leader will do next. Mr. Bouteflika's
September referendum was supported by a majority of
Algerians, and by some former critics as well. Several
opposition parties, which boycotted Algeria's
presidential elections in April, now cautiously
endorse the President's policies.
But representatives of two opposition parties - the
Assembly for Culture and Democracy and the Movement
for Society and Peace - say their support hinges on
whether Mr. Bouteflika delivers on promises of peace,
and of political and economic reforms. Other
opposition politicians, like lawmaker Ahmed Djeddai,
remain critical of the country's new president.
Mr. Djeddai is the first secretary of the center-left
Socialist Forces Front Party, which did not back
September's referendum. So far, he says, Mr.
Bouteflika has made few changes to Algeria's political
landscape. The emergency law is still in effect, he
says, and the root causes of violence - poverty,
inequality and injustice - are still present. Mr.
Djeddai says it is not Mr. Bouteflika, but a cartel
of military generals that still direct the country's
course - a cartel that many Algerians simply call Le
Pouvoir, which means "the power."
The same arguments about Mr. Bouteflika's
effectiveness, and about how much power he wields, are
being debated these days by diplomats and businessmen,
as well as by ordinary Algerians. Some analysts say
Mr. Bouteflika's failure so far to select a cabinet
shows how little maneuvering room he has with
Algeria's military leaders. But others point to
instances they say prove the President is pursuing an
independent course -- such as when he fired nearly
half Algeria's governors last summer.
Claus Heiberg, the representative of the European
Union in Algeria, said Mr. Bouteflika has made a good
start.
//HEIBERG ACT//
We do think he is talking about real change. We
do think as well that the actions are still to
come.
//END ACT//
Perhaps the two most pressing items on the president's
agenda are ending the violence that still kills dozens
of Algerians each week, and beginning the judgement of
those responsible for it. Mr. Bouteflika's
reconciliation plan gives Islamic fighters until
January to lay down their arms, in exchange for a
measure of amnesty. If not, he warns, the government
will launch an all-out war.
The possibility of more bloodshed worries some
Algerians. Others, like Fatima Kharadja are troubled
for other reasons.
Mrs. Kharadja heads a group of Algerian psychologists
trying to help a town shattered two years ago during a
terrorist bombing attack. The group first began
treating traumatized children. It later began working
with young widows and whole families.
Last year, the psychologists were astonished when some
of the women brought in the wife of a terrorist for
treatment. Mrs. Kharadja says the gesture proves that
victims of violence had begun to forgive.
But Mrs. Kharadja says clemency has its limits.
//ACT KHARADJA SPEAKING IN FRENCH, EST. AND FADE//
Mrs. Kharadja says she supports Mr. Bouteflika's
reconciliation program. But, she says, Algeria's
killers must be captured. They must be tried and
sentenced, she adds. If justice is not done, she
says, Algerians like Aldjia Matoub, who lost her son
to the killers, will never be at peace. (SIGNED)
NEB/LB/GE/KL
21-Oct-1999 14:23 PM EDT (21-Oct-1999 1823 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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