MUSLIM HATE IN ALGERIA
Language Lends Hand To
Religion In Tearing
By Our
Man in Tizi Ouzou
Civil wars are usually soul-searching
times were sections of the nation search for identities. For Algerians,
language is inextricably bound up with the conflicting visions of their
country's identity. Half the population are Berber who despise Arabic, while
half the Arabs prefer French to Arabic for daily communication. So is Algeria
Arab or Berber? Is it Islamic, as the armed Muslims would have it? Or is it
For an onlooker, the conflict seems
simple to describe: Islamic militants using extreme violence to overthrow a
secular authoritarian regime and establish an Iranian style Islamic republic -
although nasty and brutal conflict even by the standard of African civil wars.
In a both ill timed and ill advised move the military backed government of President Liamine Zeroual made language - an important national identity tool- another cause of conflict in the already religious-war torn nation. On July 5th, a law came into force making Arabic the only language allowed in public life, fury exploded in the Berber-speaking mountain region of Kabylia. The law bans any official use of French and the Berber language, Tamazight, which means ``the language of free men''.
As the law came to force Kabylia was
already on fire following the killing of an immensely popular Berber singer,
Lounes Matoub, on 25th June. His wife and two sisters-in-law were wounded in
the attack. Although most Algerians, Berbers and Arabs alike, believe that the
singer, an outspoken secularist, was killed by GIS militants, Berber anger
swiftly turned against the state and its Arabisation policy. Protesters sacked
government-owned shops and tore down Arabic signs. As tens of thousands of
Kabyles poured into a mountain village for his burial, the divisions in
Algerian society were never more obvious. Mourners shouted ``Pouvoir (the
generic name given to the military-political power) - assassins!'' They threw
stones at a security forces helicopter flying overhead. The accusation seemed
to be that the authorities had failed to protect the singer from his Islamist
enemies. The crowds, carrying banners declared, `We are not Arabs,' chanted
anti-government slogans in Berber and French.
The Berber, for their own interest,
were on the government side in the conflict against Islamists. They always
opposed the programme of the FIS - the Islamic Salvation Front. FIS was cheated
from a possible victory in a French style second round of General elections in
1992 by a military coup- which was demanded by trade unionists, women groups
and secular movement fearing an Islamic takeover. The coup was tacitly
supported by the French. The Islamists started a wave of terror that turned
into a civil war.
The Islamists, known as GIS - the armed
Islamic group as the FIS leaders like leaders of Muslim Brothers and other
Islamic parties in the region who take political asylum in the West- try to
distant themselves from the violence. The leaders argue that their `armed
comrades' - or terrorists in the book of official media- do not represent the
true face of Islam which is all about tolerance, compassion and mercy. However,
Berber, like Copts in
Berber speakers, and many secular
Algerians, regard the Arabisation law as a heavy-handed attempt to appease the government's
Islamist opponents FIS. Berber, is an oral language still in the process of
being codified. A succession of authoritarian central governments, uneasy with
pluralism and eager to shore up their nationalist credentials, discouraged its
use outside the private domain.
With independence in 1962, the FLN -
National Liberation Front - one party dictatorship that ruled
In 1995, President Zeroual, wanting to
woo the Kabyle political parties and enlist their support against Islamists,
set up a body attached to the presidency that had the task of introducing
Berber teaching in schools. Proclaiming a secular Mediterranean identity,
Berber activists resent the emphasis on
The Berbers believed the Islamists'
doctrine to be alien to
Ex-Mujahedine unwanted by their
countries of origin and had no other skill but fighting a war that broke all
known international war conventions were dispersed in the Middle East dealing
in drugs or becoming hire guns. They went from
The Berbers, who were never too fond of
the current military backed government, or its predecessors, carried greater
disliking to the Islamists and their brutalities. They were active in
confronting the GIS on all civil, and some times armed fronts.
The Berbers, who gave their name to
Barbary, inhabited North Africa since 5th century BC. The Berbers strongly
resisted the Arab invaders of the seventh century. Although there was some
Arabisation of several cities and most of the coastal area but most of
Algeria's countryside remained Berber- speaking well into the twelfth century.
Arabisation of the countryside
accelerated during the invasion of Arab nomads from Egyptian desert in the late
eleventh century and by the late eighteenth century Berber speakers were
limited to the least accessible parts of the country--high mountains, distant
oases and desert plateau, and mountain areas where the vast majority of Berbers
continue to live today. These areas include: Kabylia (Djurdia Mountains)
Southeast of Algiers, the Auras Mountains Southeast of Constantine and Ouarseni
Massive, Southwest of Algiers.
Later they played a significant role in
the Muslim conquest and rule of Spain after conversion to Islam in the 8th
century. Berbers have a long history of resisting Arab rule. They were
periodically able to maintain independent kingdoms and empires from shortly
after the time of the Arab invasion until the sixteenth century. They resisted
the rule of the Ottoman Turks and also opposed French colonial rule despite a
policy of preferential treatment by the French. They had a yearlong rebellion
in 1871 and a strong participation in the Algerian war of independence.
Having been barred from top official
posts in the FLN - the national Liberation Front that ruled Algeria from 1962,
the Berber members split and formed the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) in 1963
and called for a pluralist culture. Thus they see this law - although was
passed by a rubber stamp parliament in 1996- as a betrayal of the joint
struggle against French colonial rule.
Their assassinated singer Lounes Matoub
was a symbol of resistance to attacks on Berber culture - whether from the
murderous Muslim zealots or government bureaucrats. GIS who kidnapped and then
released him three years ago said they killed him because he was an enemy of
Islam. Matoub music and poetry symbolised the struggle to get Berber recognised
as an official language on a par with Arabic. His songs, glorifying Kabyle
village life, mocked both the military-backed government and its Islamist
opponents. Not only was he scathing about Arabisation, which he held
responsible for the rise of Islamic militancy, but he was contemptuous of
Arabic language itself, describing it as `uninteresting', and `unsuitable for
knowledge and science'.
Secular Berbers point at the example of Egypt when its late authoritarian leader Colonel Gamal Abdel-Nasser's forced Arabisation on Egyptian culture. They see that as the root of the current Islamic terror campaign which destroyed Egypt's tourist industry and claimed hundreds of lives. `` When colonel Nasser Changed the flag, the National anthem and even the name of the country in his false Arabisation,'' said Algerian Berber journalist Liabdallah BelQassim referring to Nasser's 1958 forced unity with Syria, when he replaced the 5000 years old name Egypt with United Arab Republic, `` The Egyptians lost their ancient identity, and after years of humiliation, the Islamists presented them with a false sense of identity, but also violence came with it.'' To accelerate Arabisation in 1970's many Arabic teachers were imported from Egypt and Syria. They carried with them Colonel Nasser's vague romantic pan- Arab nationalism ideology, which only added confusion to the blurred mosaic of Algeria.
For the Kabyles, who are heavily
represented in French speaking sectors of culture and economy, French is even
more important as so many of them work or have worked in France. In Kabylia,
Arabic is often the third language.
For their part, supporters of
Arabisation are deeply suspicious of Berber activism, charging that behind the
protests lurks an unpatriotic desire to perpetuate French dominance. They
regard figures such as the assassinated singer as representing an extreme, even
racist, anti-Arab streak that has to be fought. The two political parties with
Kabyle constituencies have already said that they will defy the Arabisation
law. ``The government is condemning to perilous disorder a society which is
already fragmented and ill-educated, and whose administration is undermined by
corruption and incompetence,'' said Hocine Ait Ahmed, leader of the FFS. A lesser worry, expressed by many, is
how the law can be enforced, given the large number of people who cannot master
Arabic. Some fear that the enforcement will be selective, turning the law into
a political weapon applied selectively.
In the face of fierce resistance, western condemnation, and more important, fear that the arms given to Berber by the authorities to fight the GIS terror groups, might be turned against the government (a previously unheard-of organisation calling itself the Armed Berber Movement threatened to avenge Matoub's death and kill anyone who tries to implement the Arabisation law), President Zerual who has long resisted any outside probe into the civil war, has agreed on July 9th to let a UN team investigate the killings. The government has ensured the group of international diplomats. Prepared to leave for visit Algeria on July 22, ``free and complete access to all sources of information,'' UN spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt said. Demands for such an international inquiry, from a number of nations, including the US, and international human rights groups, were spurred by suggestions that the army or government-armed self-defence forces might have had at least a passive role in some massacres. Mr Brandt credited the mounting international pressure and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with bringing about a change of heart in the Algerian leadership. ``I think Algeria has recognised the need to work with and assist the international community on this,'' he said. The team is headed by former Portuguese President Mario Soares. Other team members include: former Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, former Jordanian Minister Abdel Karim Kabariti, the attorney-general of Kenya, Amos Wako, ex-American UN Ambassador Donald McHenry, and Simone Veil, France's former secretary of state. The group is seeking ``a clear vision and a precise perception'' of the situation and will report back to Annan, Brandt said. Last month western diplomats gave a cautious welcome to the involvement of the United Nations.
There has not been any serious western attempts either to force the Algerian government into finding a compromised peaceful solution with the Islamists, or given a total help to overcome the terror campaign. The French government has been divided in its Algerian policy, with the foreign ministry urging a negotiated settlement and the defence ministry supporting the Algerian military. NATO's northern European members have evinced little inclination to fashion approaches to deal with Algeria's political turbulence. As a prudent measure, France, Italy and Spain have developed plans for emergency evacuation of their nationals including Algerians with dual citizen-ship in the case of France which would number tens of thousands. Reportedly, military preparations for evacuation are well advanced. At present, the U.S. military is not directly involved in the plans, but has been kept apprised.
Algeria violence claims three
lives
ALGIERS, Algeria
June 02, 2005
Two Algerian soldiers were killed and a third injured in eastern Algeria in the last few days in attacks by Muslim fundamentalist gunmen.
Daily al-Watan said the incident occurred in the province of Boumedras, 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Algiers, when a landmine planted by Islamic gunmen exploded under a military vehicle on its way to a nearby base.
In another incident, gunmen believed to belong to the radical Salafi Group for Daawa and Fighting, killed a farmer in western Algeria Tuesday.
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A bomb ripped through a crowd waiting for the Algerian president to arrive in an eastern town on Thursday, killing as many as 16 people and injuring more than 70, officials said.
The bomb exploded about 45 minutes before President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's scheduled arrival in Batna, a town about 280 miles east of the capital, Algiers — and the last stop on the president's tour of eastern Algeria.
Local police said a man between 30 and 35 years old carrying the bomb in a bag walked into the crowd at the Al-Atik mosque. He was behaving strangely and onlookers alerted police, the officials said.
As police moved in toward the man, he threw down the bag and tried to flee. The bomb exploded, and it was not immediately clear whether he died or was wounded in the attack, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Hospital and security officials put the death toll at 16, but the official APS news agency reported 14 dead. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.
Bouteflika, who arrived after the blast, made brief remarks to Algerian television, saying "the only solution was national consensus."
Coordinated terror attacks killed dozens of people on April 11, when bombs ripped through the Algerian prime minister's office and a police station in an Algiers suburb.
A new al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for the April bombings, saying they were carried out by suicide bombers in trucks packed with explosives.
The attacks were a devastating setback for the North African nation's efforts to close that violent chapter in its history — an Islamic insurgency that has killed an estimated 200,000 people.
Bouteflika has devoted his presidency to ending the violence, launching a national reconciliation plan offering amnesty to insurgents who lay down their arms and stepping up military sweeps of remaining insurgent strongholds.
"This reconciliation, which does not exclude anyone," is part of "an effort for the reconstruction of Algeria, because without political stability there will be no economic and social development," Bouteflika said.
Bouteflika often tours the country to check on the progress of development programs and other initiatives. He visited several western regions about a month ago and began his tour of the east on Tuesday, visiting four regions over three days.
The bombing comes just days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Analysts and security officials have been warning al-Qaida could be plotting attacks around this period.
German authorities arrested three Islamic militants suspected of plotting massive bomb attacks Tuesday.
The same day eight men — of Pakistani, Afghan, Somali and Turkish origin — were arrested in Denmark. Authorities said the men were linked to senior al-Qaida leaders, but have not revealed what their targets were, or when they planned to strike.