Belhadj comments on opposition, the “people” and the “street”

Ali Belhadj, the former deputy leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) had some interesting comments for the media on the subject of opposition to the government.

He confirmed that he had been approached by influential personalities in the regime but had rejected their offers. He also confirmed that the FIS is not part of the Coalition for Freedoms and Democratic Transition (CLTD) which only includes accredited political parties while the FIS is banned.
More interestingly, however, Belhadj put his finger on strengthening pulse of Algeria when he classified opposition parties into three categories: the accredited political parties; the unaccredited prosecuted parties such as the FIS; and an ignored party – “the people”. “The ignored party,” he said, “represents most of the Algerian people who boycotted the presidential elections and who have no trust in the executive.”

He went on to say that he believes that people who cannot find a political way to claim their rights will take to the street to get them. 
For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Algeria: ANC holds fractious first meeting

The newly-formed Alliance Nationale pour le Changement (ANC), grouping former prime minister Ahmed Benbitour with the Islamist party El Islah, has held its first political meeting on 18th March in Algiers. According to a report in Liberté, the meeting was “outrageously dominated” by Islamists, including ex-Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) leader Ali Belhadj, who was invited and “received a hero's welcome”.

Other leading figures in the Alliance include former Rassemblement national démocratique (RND) secretary general Tahar Benbaibeche and Abdelkader Merbah of the Rassemblement pour la Republique (RPR). Benbitour told those present that the objective of the alliance was “to change the system in its entirety and not only specific individuals”, and that this had to take place “peacefully or in chaos”. He added that it was time to “put an end to this façade of democracy and other formal reforms aimed only at satisfying the great powers to the detriment of the Algerian people”.

A defector from the Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix (MSP), a presidential alliance party, called on Islamists and secularists to work “hand in hand” to bring about change in Algeria. Judging from the reception to the ANC's first meeting in the Algerian press, this will be no simple task, as the level of mistrust of the intentions of former Islamists such as Belhadj still runs high.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

The latest Kabylia anti-terrorism operation

Last week we reported on the launch on Thursday 9th December of a massive army operation against AQIM 'terrorists' covering much of the Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdès. As is so often the case with such operations, it becomes impossible to know where truth becomes disinformation and propaganda.

During the course of the last week, the scale of the operation has grown bigger and bigger according to media reports sourced to the security services. In the course of the week the number of soldiers involved has grown from 4,000 to 7,000 and then to 9,000.

Similarly the number of 'terrorists' allegedly surrounded has grown from some 50 to 500. This later figure may, of course, be true, but it is difficult to reconcile with the security forces' own information which tells the world that there are only some 600 AQIM ' terrorists' . In fact, one such report claims that there are only 400 in northern Algeria.

The ' truth' is that the army is undertaking one of its periodic sweep operations in the region but that the figures, both of the scale of the operation and the number of ' terrorists' about to be eliminated are almost certainly grossly exaggerated.

However, such exaggeration is important. It serves to justify to its Western allies and the more sceptical Algerian public all the money spent on the Algerian armed forces and their counter-terrorism campaigns. Such operations and their exaggeration are, ' internationally important' .

One of the barometers of the ' truth-exaggeration' problem – and this is not a comedy skit – relates to Ali Belhadj's DNA. As noted above Belhadj has a son who is a member of AQIM .

According to the media, the security forces say they have taken samples of Belhadj's DNA to help them identify corpses that are too mutilated to be identified by other means.

According to Ali Belhadj, to whom one of our sources spoke this week, this is totally untrue. Indeed, according to Belhadj, this is the fourth or fifth time that this DNA story has been put out into the media by the security services. In his opinion, it is becoming almost the clearest indicator of when the security forces want to exaggerate the scale or outcome of its operations.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates

Western Sahara talks on 8 - 9 th November

Christopher Ross, the UN's latest envoy to try and make headway in the Western Sahara dispute, has at least succeeded in getting the main parties to agree to attend talks to be held in New York on 8 - 9th November. The aim of the talks is to try and break the impasse over the future of the disputed territory, which Ross says is 'unsustainable'. The talks follow Ross' recent visit to the region. A UN spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said that it hopes the talks “will be productive and will allow parties to move beyond the impasse.” Few analysts believe any such progress will be made. The fundamental problem is that the dispute is over a 'winner takes all' outcome. Morocco, however, has time on its side.

There are two small matters which have gone against Algeria, however, in the last week or so. Whether they will have much bearing on the talks is doubtful, but they are seen as possibly strengthening the Moroccan position.

What has happened to Mustapha Salma?

One is the reports, as yet unverified, and which could still be nothing more than Moroccan 'propaganda', that the outspoken Sahrawi leader, Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, was shot dead, or at least seriously injured by his Algerian and/or Polisario captors who have apparently been holding him since 21st September despite promises by the Polisario on 16th October that he would released. Salma's 'crime' was that he had voiced support for Morocco's autonomy plan. At this moment, all the reports of his possible death are coming from Moroccan sources. They are unverified and have all the appearance of being a major propaganda ploy to discredit both the Polisario and Algeria prior to next week's talks. However, if the reports turn out to be true, they could be very damaging for both the Polisario and Algeria.

Ali Belhadj explains the Islamist position

The second matter relates to comments made this week by the former FIS leader, Ali Belhadj. The gist of Belhadj's comments is that the Western Sahara dispute is a fight between two regimes, not two peoples, and that while both regimes are 'bad', the Algerian one is by far the worst. In that sense, Belhadj might appear to be lending his weight more to the Moroccan position. However, his fundamental argument, as an Islamist, is that Islamists don't like states, and especially small ones (as the Western Sahara would become), because Muslims are all one people and should be part of one single entity. But, if the Western Sahara was to be incorporated in Morocco, perhaps also with Mauritania, it would at least create a bigger entity than if it becomes independent. Not surprisingly, Belhadj's somewhat convoluted argument has not been given much coverage in Algeria, apart from some comment in the Arab-language media, but has been seized upon by the Moroccan media.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

© 2010 Menas Associates

Algeria - Ali Belhadj arrested following protest at US Embasy

Ali Belhadj and three other well-known and respected leaders of opposition movements were arrested on Monday 31st May while protesting at the American Embassy in Algiers against Israel's heavy-handed response to the Gaza aid flotilla.

The FIS, readers will recall, was prohibited from taking power in January 1992 by a coup d'état by the country's most powerful generals. After establishing an overwhelming lead in the first round of the very democratic 1991-92 general election, the military stepped in and annulled the second round of voting, which would have secured the FIS' electoral victory. This military coup d'état took the country into its Dirty War, from which it has still not fully recovered.

The three men arrested with Belhadj were:

> Dr Ahmed ben Mohamed, one of the signatories to the 'Sant' Egidio' National Contract in January 1995. The Contract, drawn up and signed in Rome under the auspices of the Catholic Sant' Egidio Community, was an attempt by the FIS and most of Algeria's other political parties to establish 'political pluralism' and peace. The notable exception to the talks was the government, which at that time had just received both IMF and US financial backing (through Halliburton) and had no desire to end the war.

> Abdelkhader Dehbi, well known for his frequent writings in Quotidien d'Algerie, is a leader of the 19th March Movement. Named after the day of the ceasefire between France and Algeria in 1962, the movement, which is similar to the Rachad movement, was created about two years ago. Its aim is to overthrow the current regime by peaceful means and to establish democratic government in Algeria. Its founder was Sallaheddine Sidhoun, who also contributes to Quotidien d'Algerie.

> Sidhoun is a surgeon who was given a 20-year prison sentence for giving surgical help to the GIA. Instead of going to jail, he went underground. After some ten years, he emerged, made a lot of public noise and went to court, where he was declared innocent! Both Sidhoun and Dehbi were celebrated maquisards (mujahideen) in the Algerian War of Independence.

In February 2010 (see Algeria P&S - 19.02.10), Dehbi, who was a close friend of Bouteflika before he became president, asked him to stand down as president as he was destroying Algeria. The full text of Dehbi's letter can be accessed here.

The fourth person arrested was Lakhdar Bouregaa who was commander of Wilaya IV in the Algerian War of Independence and a member of the National Council of the FLN. He was a founder, alongside Ait Ahmed, of the FFS. Bouregaa was accused of being involved in Tahar Zbiri's unsuccessful revolt against former president Houari Boumédiène in 1967, and was reportedly tortured in prison until released in 1974.

The four men went to the US Embassy after Israel attacked the Gaza aid flotilla and asked to see the Ambassador. A diplomat, whose name we do not have, came out of the Embassy to talk with them. The diplomat was smoking a cigarette. Dr Mohamed asked the diplomat to stop smoking in their presence. He accordingly put the cigarette behind his back before throwing it away. The five men spoke for around 15 minutes before plain-clothes DRS officers, who had been observing the exchange, ordered uniformed police to arrest the four Algerians.

The four were physically seized, one by one, and taken away into detention. Belhadj was taken last and was beaten up in front of the diplomat. According to our sources, his parting words to the diplomat were: 'You do not need to colonise us: that is already being done for you by your puppets.' Belhadj was held in detention for about eight hours while the other three were held for about 2-3 hours.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.