DATE=11/23/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ALGERIA ISLAMIST / BURIAL (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256480
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Supporters of a slain Algerian Islamic leader
gathered for his funeral in Algiers Tuesday. V-O-A
Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb reports analysts
fear the murder could undermine efforts to end a
seven-year insurgency by Islamic militants.
TEXT: Several thousand mourners chanting Islamic
political slogans accompanied the remains of Islamic
Salvation Front leader Abdelkader Hachani as they were
buried in a hillside cemetery above the Algerian
capital.
The mourners vowed to die for an Islamic state. They
listened as speakers urged them to continue their
struggle but to remain calm.
Mr. Hachani was the third ranking official in the
Salvation Front. He played a major role in
reconciliation efforts between the banned group and
the government.
A lone gunman shot him in the head Monday while he was
at a dentist's office in central Algiers. Algerian
officials indicate they believe Islamic militants were
behind the attack. But leaders of the Front living
abroad say they believe militias backed by the
Algerian military carried out the shooting.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was elected last
April on a platform of national reconciliation,
condemned the murder and pledged to use all possible
means to unmask what he called the forces of evil and
treachery.
Algerian commentators noted it was the first murder of
a prominent individual since the presidential
elections and said it could signal a return to the
pattern of attacks that periodically rocked Algerian
society in previous years.
Many predicted the murder would set back efforts to
end the cycle of violence that has killed 100-thousand
people in the seven years since the military cancelled
elections that Islamists were favored to win.
/// REST OPT ///
The newspaper, El-Watan, said the murder of Abdelkader
Hachani had silenced forever the dominant voice of the
moderate Islamist camp.
Other newspapers editorialized that the murder would
polarize political opinions. And virtually all said
it was aimed at undermining reconciliation.
Reconciliation talks sponsored by President Bouteflika
led to an amnesty offer to rebels who turn themselves
in. The amnesty was overwhelmingly approved by
Algerians in a referendum last September.
However, it was rejected by two militant groups that
have stepped up their attacks recently, leading to
fears of an upsurge in violence in coming months.
(Signed)
NEB/SB/JWH/LTD/JP
23-Nov-1999 12:43 PM EDT (23-Nov-1999 1743 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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