DIALOGUE IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO ALGE

[lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

EDITORIAL

DIALOGUE IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO ALGERIA'S WOES
4.9.97/THE NATION

THE GOVERNMENT MUST REALISE THERE WILL BE NO END TO THE VIOLENCE
WITHOUT DIALOGUE. PEACE CANNOT BE RETURNED TO ALGERIA
UNILATERALLY, DOSE BY DOSE.

Islamic militants slaughtered about 600 people in Algeria last
week. Most of the victims were women and children from isolated
farming communities. Most were dragged out of their homes to have
their throats slit.

The fighting in Algeria is not about religion. It is not about
ideology. It is about the most base instincts: fear, revenge and
power.

To bring an end to it will require something of which has been in
little supply in Algeria -courage. Courage from the government to
open a dialogue, courage from the militants to accept 
unconditional talks, and most of all courage from the population
to demand a solution is found. 

The origins of North Africa's bloodiest Islamic uprising-go back
to 1992, when the army cancelled elections that the now-banned
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was certain to win.

The insurgency mounted by Muslim militants in response has
maintained a deadly pace, with attack after attack, in markets,
in movie houses, in rural villages.

Brutal government offensives have been unsuccessful in stopping
the militants, and efforts by Algeria's leaders to cultivate an
image of normalcy are continually belied by new shootings,
slashings and bombings. The death toll now stands at 60,000.

After five years of ceaseless bloodletting, the military-backed
authorities adopted a new strategy in July by introducing
concessions to break the stalemate while keeping up their
repression.

On July 15 they freed FIS leader Abassi Madani after he had spent
nearly six years in a military prison. The group's No 3 leader
was freed a week earlier.

While the move met one of the FIS's key demands - the liberation
of its jailed leaders - it is clear the military still has much
distance to travel before peace can return the country.

Last Sunday, the generals placed Madani under house arrest after
he said in a letter to UN chief Kofi Annan that he was "ready to
call for an immediate halt to the bloodshed". 

Algiers accused the UN chief of interfering in the country's
domestic affairs. But even the government must realise there will
be no end to the violence without dialogue. Peace cannot be
returned to Algeria unilaterally, dose- by dose.

The government's standing has been boosted, and its position
hardened, by the political successes of President Liamine
Zeroual, who last month staged the nation's first multi-party
legislative elections since the cancelled vote.

The elections were deemed a national victory, and eight moderate
fundamentalists were given Cabinet posts.
     
But it is important for the government to understand what the
results meant; they were not so much a sign of support for the
authorities as a show of revulsion at the excesses of the
Islamist terror campaign.
          
The Islamic Salvation Front has signalled a willingness to seek a
mediated way out of the mess. The brutality of last week's
killings suggest an FIS rival, the Armed Islamic Group, which
was held responsible, is also getting increasingly
desperate.

The time for hand wringing and threats in Algeria is over. Bold
action from Algiers is needed. The most murderous Islamist cells
can be tamed but only if the country is otherwise united. 

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