Algeria

D

Rise of Algerian Nationalism

Algerian nationalism developed after World War I among groups of Muslims who at first wanted only equality with the Europeans. Ferhat Abbas and Ahmed Messali Hadj, a Communist, were among the most prominent Algerian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936 the French government devised a plan providing full equality for Muslim war veterans and professionals, but it was scuttled by colon deputies in the French National Assembly. Frustrated by the colons’ stubborn resistance to reform, Abbas joined forces with Messali during World War II to organize a militant anti-French party, the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty. After the war the Algerian Organic Statute (1947) set up Algeria’s first parliamentary assembly, with an equal number of European and Muslim delegates, but this satisfied neither natives nor colons and proved ineffective. The more militant nationalists were by then beginning to favour armed revolt. In the early 1950s many went into hiding or exile.

E

War of Independence

In March 1954 Ahmed Ben Bella, an ex-sergeant in the French army, joined eight other Algerian exiles in Egypt to form a revolutionary committee that later became known as the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN). A few months later (on November 1), the FLN launched its bid for Algerian independence by coordinated attacks on public buildings, military and police posts, and communications installations.

A steady rise in guerrilla action over the next two years forced the French to bring in reinforcements; eventually, 400,000 French troops were stationed in Algeria. FLN strategy combined Abd al-Qadir’s guerrilla tactics with deliberate use of terrorism. The guerrilla tactics effectively immobilized superior French forces, while indiscriminate murders and kidnappings of Europeans and Muslims who did not actively support the FLN created a climate of fear throughout the country. This in turn brought counter-terrorism, as colons and French army units raided Muslim villages and slaughtered the civilian population.

In 1956 the war spread to the cities. In Algiers, even cafés, schools, and shops became targets, as the nationalists sought to weaken colon morale and draw international attention to their cause. The Algiers uprising was ruthlessly put down. Elsewhere, the French gradually gained the upper hand by using new tactics. Collective punishment was meted out to whole villages suspected of aiding guerrillas. Other groups were deported to guarded refugee camps. Electrified fences along the Tunisian and Moroccan borders cut off the main FLN army from units inside Algeria.

Despite their military superiority, the French were unable to find a political solution satisfactory to both the colons and the FLN. International criticism of France increased, and its allies in NATO worried about the commitment of French forces to an unpopular war.

In May 1958 the colons and French army officers joined hands in Algiers to overthrow the French government, charging it with vacillation. A Committee of Public Safety demanded the return to office of General Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader of the Free French, as the only one who could settle the war and preserve French Algeria. De Gaulle, however, was a realist. Once in power, he recognized that the war was unwinnable. In 1959 he announced his intention of allowing Algerians to choose between independence and continued association with France.

The plan struck the colons like a thunderbolt. Outraged, they staged an unsuccessful revolt against de Gaulle early in 1960, and in 1961 a group of army generals again tried to overthrow him. Both times, however, the bulk of the army remained loyal to the government. Associated with the generals’ plot was a group of military and colon extremists, called the Secret Army Organization, which at the same time carried on a brutal campaign of counter-terrorism against both the FLN and French authorities.

In March 1962 a ceasefire was finally arranged between government and FLN representatives at Evian in France. In the long-awaited referendum, held the following July, Algeria voted overwhelmingly for independence. The colons began a mass evacuation; before the end of the year most of them had left the country.

F

Independence

The Evian agreements provided for immediate independence for Algeria, with special aid from France to help the country recover from eight years of devastation. The French also returned the Sahara, with its vast French-developed oil and gas deposits. On its side, the FLN guaranteed protection and full civil rights for the remains of the European population; after a three-year period they would choose between Algerian and French citizenship.

The material and human costs of the war were staggering. French casualties were about 100,000, Algerian more than 1 million, and another 1.8 million became refugees. An additional 150,000 pro-French Muslims became victims of the FLN as it settled old accounts after the ceasefire.

The departure of the Europeans deprived Algeria of nearly all its skilled labour force. To make matters worse, factional rivalries within the FLN, kept in the background during the war, now became visible. At a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, FLN leaders approved a charter that specified Algeria as a socialist state, with the Front as the only legal political organization. Authority would be exercised by a central FLN political bureau. The economy would be state controlled, with former colon lands managed by committees of their workers.

The leaders were able to agree on little else, and open warfare soon broke out between factions. Colonel Houari Boumedienne, Chief of Staff of the Army of National Liberation, threw his support behind Ahmed Ben Bella, who in September 1962 was elected the first president of independent Algeria.

Ben Bella served as president for three years and made a start towards putting the country back on its feet. The first constitution was approved by voters in 1963, providing a presidential form of government. The only check on the president’s power would be censure by two thirds of the National Assembly. With such unrestricted authority, Ben Bella became totally absorbed in his personal power and prestige, more and more preoccupied with international leadership, and at the same time more autocratic at home. By mid-1965 Boumedienne, then minister of defence, felt Ben Bella had gone too far; he had him arrested in a bloodless coup and assumed supreme power.

G

The Boumedienne Regime

Under Boumedienne, Algeria finally began to capitalize on its vast resources. The army rather than the FLN became a dominant force. Boumedienne formed a 26-member Council of the Revolution as supreme authority; its members were army commanders and his close associates. Factionalism and personal rule were strictly prohibited. Although Boumedienne remained first among equals—he was simultaneously president, prime minister, and minister of defence—the principle of collegiate leadership was maintained.

In addition to rapid economic development, Boumedienne brought to the country a viable political system. The constitution of 1976 defined Algeria as a socialist state under FLN leadership. Boumedienne was legally elected the president. When he died in 1978, Colonel Chadli Benjedid was elected to succeed him. Benjedid continued his predecessor’s policies but relaxed some of Boumedienne’s strict controls; he released and pardoned (1980) former president Ben Bella. Benjedid was re-elected in 1984, running unopposed.

H

New Elections and Civil Strife

In 1988, prompted by clashes between mostly youthful protesters and government troops, Benjedid loosened the FLN’s monopoly on political power. Re-elected in December to a third five-year term, he secured passage of a new constitution in February 1989, which was approved by referendum, opening the door to other political groups. In the 1990 provincial and municipal elections, the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front defeated the FLN by an overwhelming margin.

In January 1992, after a first round of balloting made it likely that the Islamic fundamentalists would win control of parliament, a group of military and civilian officials forced Benjedid to resign. They cancelled the election, declared a state of emergency, suspended parliament, and established a new High Committee of State with Mohammed Boudiaff as the new president. This precipitated a continuing internal conflict between the government and security forces and Islamic extremists.

The fundamentalists targetted for bloody attacks soldiers, officials, police, and their families; foreign nationals; intellectuals and schoolteachers; conspicuously “un-Islamic” women (including those who refused to act as “temporary wives” for fundamentalist fighters); and anyone else suspected of pro-Western or pro-government leanings. The government responded with summary detention (and reported summary executions) of anyone suspected of involvement with the fundamentalists.