An Inter Press Service Feature
ROME, Nov 22 (IPS) - Senior Algerian opposition forces Tuesday demanded that the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), be readmitted to the democratic process in strife-torn Algeria.
The opposition leaders made their plea in Rome where 12 opposition groups had been meeting for two days of talks aimed at promoting reconciliation and dialogue in Algeria.
As many as 30,000 people may have died in civil unrest in Algeria following the suspension of elections in 1992 that the FIS were poised to win.
The talks had been held under the aegis of the Roman Catholic peace group, the Community of Sant'Egidio, a group that has played a key role in peace talks in Angola, Sudan and Mozambique. The Algerian government invitations to attend the meeting.
The Algerian government boycott prompted senior FIS delegate Anouar Haddam, exiled president of the FIS parliamentary delegation, to comment: "The government's refusal to come to the negotiating table is a testimony to its desire to prolong the vicious cycle of violence"
Haddam claimed that his group was opposed to violence and pledged its support for a multi-party system. He also called on Algerian President Liamine Zeroual to distance himself from the security forces fighting Muslim opposition and for FIS leaders under house arrest to be allowed to meet FIS members.
Former Algerian President and hero of the liberation struggle against France, Ahmed Ben Bella called on both sides to take steps to calm a situation that he described as close to civil war.
Ben Bella added, however, that the government will have to take the first step by freeing political prisoners, closing special anti-terrorist courts and, above all, recognising the FIS as a political movement.
"Both sides will have to take steps to calm the situation but the government has to act first,' said Ben Bella. "It must free political prisoners and accept the FIS as a political force. Once that is done, then the FIS can be called on to make concessions."
Ben Bella, leader of the moderate Movement for Democracy in Algeria, had earlier criticised Western powers for their failure to denounce what he called "major human rights abuses" by the military backed Algerian government.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service