ALGERIA: French Policy on Algeria Criticised by Activists

PARIS, Nov 24 (IPS) - A meeting of Algerian opposition groups in Rome this week may yet force the French government to reassess its support for the army-backed government in Algiers say analysts here.

The meeting of opposition forces, including Islamic radicals from the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), in Rome came at a time when France's confidence in the ability of the Algiers authorities to restrain Islamic forces may be waning.

"France's preoccupation is to avoid civil war," said Philippe Moreau Defarges of the French Institute for International Relations. "They are trying to lead the Algerian government toward dialogue with the reasonable elements of the FIS."

The FIS was banned in 1992 after Algerian authorities cancelled a general election the Islamists were poised to win. Anwar Haddam, the senior FIS delegate to the conference, called by the Roman Catholic Sant'Egidio Community, pledged support for a multi-party system and its opposition to violence.

But, he said, "the government's refusal to come to the negotiating table testifies to its desire to prolong the vicious circle of violence." The meeting in Rome, attended by 12 opposition groups, urged that the ban on the party be lifted and the FIS allowed to return to the political process.

The government dismissed the talks as a 'non-event' and refused to partcipate. "We strongly reject interference in our domestic affairs, or direct and indirect mediation, whatever its source and whoever those may be who undertake it," government spokesman Ahmed Attaf told the state run news agency APS.

"There is a great fear that terrorism will spread here," said Moreau Defarges. "They are very hard with the FIS in France but insist on dialogue with them in Algeria. There is no contradiction."

Jocelyne Cesari of the Paris-based Research Institute on the Arab and Muslim World said French policy made a sharp turn in October 1993 from criticism of Algeria's rulers to collaboration in their repression of fundamentalists.

French President Francois Mitterrand originally went on record to "deplore" the Algerian military takeover in January 1992 and cancellation of the elections.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service