Algeria. (Areas of Conflict).

After years of mismanaging the economy, the ruling elites, known as Le Pouvoir, of Algeria faced an election in 1992. Disillusioned with the government, voters turned massively to the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). When it realized it was going to lose, the government cancelled the election and put the FIS leadership in jail.

Since then, the military-backed government has fought Islamic groups seeking state control on both military and political fronts. The major armed Islamic groups are the Islamic Salvation Army (connected to the FIS) and the extremist Armed Islamic Group (GIA). In addition to the armed forces, the government also has used local militias and paramilitary units.

The civil war has been particularly vicious, with the massacre of civilians being a major factor. By the summer of 1996, the death toll was 65,000 (unofficially), and rising by 600 to 800 a week. The Islamic fundamentalists have slit the throats of school girls caught not wearing the hijab, the traditional head scarf favoured by devout Muslims.

The government has committed atrocities of its own, such as leaving the bodies of people it suspects of supporting fundamentalists dangling from trees.

In November 1997, a former secret agent with Algeria's military security made some startling accusations. He said the Algerian government was responsible for 1995 Paris bombings, the killing of foreigners, and bribery of foreign officials. He blamed the many civilian massacres in Algeria on secret police and army death squads. He claimed that "the police state is run as the private fiefdom of two men: Mohammed Mediane, and General Smain Lamari, the most feared names in Algeria."

The grisly massacres of civilians have been called the world's biggest murder mystery. Exactly who is responsible and why they are slaughtering hundreds of innocent people is unclear.

On the political front, there was an important referendum in 1996. A high turn-out of voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution which strengthened government power by, among other things, banning parties based on religion.

In April 1999, a new president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, took control. He offered a partial amnesty to Islamist rebels; those who surrendered and turned in their arms would not face prosecution.

Following a government amnesty deadline in January, President Bouteflika sent forces to track down the remaining guerrilla strongholds. The majority of the Islamic Salvation Army guerrillas reportedly surrendered after their leader, Madani Mezrag, agreed to dissolve his force. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA), on the other hand, refused to take up the amnesty offer.

The level of violence has decreased since the massacres of 1997. According to Amnesty International, more than 2,500 people, mostly civilians, died in 2000.

A peace of sorts was patched together in 1999.

Life in Algiers has returned to something like normal. However, in the countryside the killing continues, as the more extremist groups refuse to quit the fight.

The level of violence declined in 2001 but attacks against military and civilian targets continue.

The GIA was the most active and was accused of the largest number of attacks and killings, both military and civilian.

In July 2001, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported: "Despite the government amnesty offered two years ago to armed militants who surrendered to the authorities, violence has not ended ... Very little is understood about the strategy of the GIA, and the Algerian authorities have so far shed no light on any of the thousands of killings routinely blamed on the group ... Massacres attributed to GIA often appear to be at random, with victims generally selected from among travelers on country roads or poor villagers in outlying areas."

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Websites

Algeria Interface - http://www.algeria-interface.com/

Algeria Watch International - http:// www.pmwatch.org/awi/

International Crisis Group - http://www.crisisweb.org

World Algerian Action Coalition - http:// www.waac.org/