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FT 04 SEP 92 / Algeria takes another step in slide towards civil war: In
the wake of last week's bombs, Francis Ghiles sees growing conflict between
fundamentalists and the ruling council
By FRANCIS GHILES
TWO MONTHS after Algerian President Mohamed Boudiaf was assassinated by a
bodyguard, the bomb which last week killed nine people and wounded scores at
Algiers airport marks another step down a road leading North Africa's
largest country towards ever greater civil strife.
Worse is in store if one is to believe leaflets distributed by the banned
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) this week, which warned of attacks against
those who 'tell lies' - that is, political parties and journalists which
support the five-man Council of State which, since the aborted elections of
last January, has ruled Algeria.
The kilogramme of TNT which exploded in an airport crowded with immigrant
workers returning to Europe after their annual visit home, and Algerians
returning from holidays abroad, was designed to kill civilians. A telephone
warning avoided a similar tragedy at the Air France booking office in the
heart of the city, which was wrecked by a bomb.
These incidents follow scores of others aimed at civilian targets, such as
town halls and telephone exchanges, and which mark a shift in the tactics of
opponents of the regime.
Until the summer, terrorist attacks, most of them by FIS supporters or
members of more radical Islamic groups, avoided civilian targets. At least
130 members of the security forces have died since January.
No one knows for sure who was behind the murder of Mr Boudiaf and who
planted the bomb at the airport. The FIS never formally claimed
responsibility for the late president's death, but said the fate which Mr
Boudiaf met was inevitable. Although some powerful vested interests had much
to lose from Mr Boudiaf's strong wish to combat corruption, the view that
they were behind his murder remains unsubstantiated.
As for last week's bomb, the FIS has simply stated that it does not aim to
kill its own people.
The 'invisible hand' much loved of the Algerian press is at work again, and
those Algerians who love to explain everything in terms of conspiracies can
listen to radio and press reports which regularly accuse the CIA and the
French special services of all the sins visited on Algeria.
The FIS, a broad grouping which eight months ago held 48 per cent of the
popular vote in Algeria's first multi-party elections before the process was
aborted, gives the appearance of being utterly fractured. The so-called
'jazairist' majority, which had said it would respect the result of the
poll, appears to have lost ground to the 'salafist' hardliners whose
conviction has, all along, been that violence alone could bring about an
Islamic republic.
Salafist members have in recent weeks received vocal support from the
dissident PFLP-General Command, a Palestinian dissident group led by Mr
Ahmed Jibril, formerly headquartered in Syria but now backed by Iran, and
from the Hizbollah Radio Baalbech. Two of its most prominent members were
last week expelled from France.
Four things are clear, however:
The determination of the Islamic activists to resort to ever-increasing
violence.
The desire for peace and order among broad sections of the Algerian public,
who nonetheless show little overt support for their leaders.
The equal determination of the authorities to fight back, using the security
forces and professional soldiers.
The unity of the army.
Whatever disagreements there may be on what exactly constitutes the right
amount of force to deal with the FIS, there appears little disagreement
about the need to restore the authority of the state.
Civil war is by no means inevitable, although the hearts and minds of the
Algerian people have not yet been won by either side.
The Financial Times
London Page 6