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Algeria

Last updated June 2009

Algeria, often seen as a gateway between Africa and Europe, has been ravaged by violence over the past half-century and remains at war with itself. More than a million Algerians were killed in the fight for independence from France in 1962, and more than 100,000 have died in the more recent power struggle that has defined Algerian reality.

For more than a decade, Algerian politics were dominated by the struggle involving the country's military and Islamist militants, in which innocent civilians were the most numerous casualties. In 1991, a general election won by an Islamist party was annulled by the sitting government, supported by the military, marking the beginning of a bloody campaign that resulted in the slaughter of over 150,000 people. The opposition party, Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), has since been banned from elections since that time.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected in April 1999 on a promise to restore national harmony and end years of bloodshed. The former foreign minister released thousands of Muslim militants from prison and won national backing for a civil concord offering amnesty to armed militants. Hundreds of rebels have taken up the offer, but violence has continued. The army under President Bouteflika's control continues to draw criticism from human rights organizations for alleged executions, torture, failure to prevent massacres, and the disappearances of thousands of Algerians.

Although hampered by persistent violence and deadly factionalism, Algeria has made some strides towards more political openness in recent years. However, the May 2002 parliamentary elections were marred by the lowest recorded turnout since independence. Many voters in the Kabylie region in eastern Algeria, with a large population of the minority Berber community, responded to the call of leading pro-Berber opposition parties to boycott the elections in protest against high unemployment, austere economic policies and allegations of electoral fraud.

In April 2004, President Bouteflika was re-elected to a second term in a landslide victory. The election was peaceful and was endorsed by international observers as the fairest since multi-party politics was introduced in 1989. But, the opposition charged that the government manipulated the electoral process and Ali Benflis, President Bouteflika's main rival and former right-hand man, issued a statement denouncing "fraud at all levels" of the electoral process. In addition, President Bouteflika's government continues to receive criticism from human rights organizations, particularly in regards to the September 2005 "Charter for Peace and Reconciliation" referendum. The charter exonerates both security forces and armed groups from accountability for human rights abuses (with the exception of those involved in mass murders, rapes, or the use of explosives in public places), moving the opposition, activists, and some families of the victims to call the charter a step backward for democracy, as it clears the state and guilty government forces of responsibility for their actions

Moreover, on November 12, 2008, parliament approved a constitutional amendment to remove presidential term limits, allowing Bouteflika to run for a third term, which he secured in yet another landslide victory in the 2009 elections. These constitutional changes have also been cited as a setback for democratic reform in Algeria, as such a law could effectively allow President Bouteflika to remain head of state for life.

The complicated challenge of integrating political Islam into the process of building a democratic system in Algeria is a problem that has important regional implications across North Africa, in parts of West and East Africa, and in Western Europe as well. The dual threats of radical religious fundamentalism and the anti-democratic authoritarianism of governments in many North African countries require a well-informed policy response, if the U.S. is to help increase the chances for sustainable democracy, and decrease the chances for conflict in this vital region.

Algeria is among the top U.S. trading partners in Africa and it has played key diplomatic roles in helping Washington address difficult issues in the Muslim world, including its facilitation of the release of the U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980. Energy exports are the backbone of Algeria's economy as the fourth-largest gas exporter, ranking fifteenth in oil reserves, and controlling the ninth-largest reserves of proved natural gas in the world. The government has continued efforts to diversify the economy by attracting foreign and domestic investment outside the energy sector, but has had little success in addressing Algeria's economic ills, including heavy dependency on energy exports and high unemployment, which currently stands at around 12%. At a conference on desertification held in the capital, Algiers, in December 2006, President Bouteflika issued a stark warning about this growing environmental concern. To address this challenge, the Algerian government set aside $2.5 billion to fight desertification, as well as foster development projects in the south.

Algeria is also an important actor in the resolution of Africa's final colonial conflict between Morocco, which continues to occupy the Western Sahara, and the independence movement, the Polisario Front which led a geurilla war against Moroccan forces until 1991. The U.S. has urged negotiations between Morocco and Algeria to resolve the territorial dispute, but Algeria continues to support the Polisario Front with arms, training, funds, and food. Algeria takes the position that Morocco needs to talk directly to the Polisario Front under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), and supported the 2006 General Assembly resolution promoting a peace plan for self-determination. Talks resumed between Morocco and the Polisario Front in March 2008, with Algeria and Mauritania also attending; however, both the UN and the mediating parties have been unable to break the political deadlock.

The U.S. considers Algeria a noteworthy ally in the region. Under the former Bush administration, it was praised for its enthusiastic support for the so-called "war on terror;" particularly its membership in the Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership (TSCTP) - a group of North African countries responding to the threat posed by extremists and militants in the region. However, instead of applying the "war on terror" framework indiscriminately, U.S. policy - now overseen by the Obama administration - should recognize that the internal dynamics of political violence in Algeria have posed complex challenges to economic development democratization in the country; seeking not only long-term stability in the country, but in the region more generally as well.

Links

Algerie Presse Service (in French)