Day 3: Algeria

[phk]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ag.html

Discuss

[they don't love you like i love you]

Kicked France's ass, and that's a good thing, because France had no business being there.

Also took action to stop Islamist extremists from taking over the government, although this led to a very nasty civil war and quite a few atrocities later at the hands of the political party they shut out. The problem now is it hasn't made much of move toward democracy since then.

[WMS]

Dreadful repressive corrupt government, coming out of a war in which their primary opponent was even worse (the Armed Islamic Group) although their other enemy (the Islamic Salvation Front) who they made peace with was probably better than them*. In any event, government discrimination against Berbers (reversed, for the moment) and refusal to devolve any power to the people may eventually lead to another civil war.

*The coup overturning the election results in 1991-2 claimed to be protecting Algeria from Islamic extremism. That is a partial truth - the Islamic Salvation Front faction is not too different from the Welfare/Virtue/Justice and Development Party in Turkey, whereas the Armed Islamic Group is super-extreme. Which tendency would have been dominant...?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Armed Islamic Group was by far one of the worst bunch of Islamist butchers, which considering the competition is saying a lot.

[Flying Dog]

In December 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of the country's first multiparty elections. The military then canceled the second round, forced then-president Bendjedid to resign, and banned the Islamic Salvation Front. The ensuing conflict engulfed Algeria in the violent Algerian Civil War. More than 100,000 people were killed, often in unprovoked massacres of civilians. The question of who was responsible for these massacres remains controversial among academic observers; many were claimed by the Armed Islamic Group. After 1998, the war waned, and by 2002 the main guerrilla groups had either been destroyed or surrendered, taking advantage of an amnesty program, though sporadic fighting continued in some areas. Elections resumed in 1995, and in 1999, after a series of short-term leaders representing the military, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the current president, was elected. The issue of Berber language and identity increased in significance, particularly after the extensive Kabyle protests of 2001 and the near-total boycott of local elections in Kabylie; the government responded with concessions including naming of Tamazight (Berber) as a national language and teaching it in schools.

[Schmitz in 1972]

Beyond the Mediterranean coast you've got some of the most sparsely populated land on Earth as you get deep into the Sahara desert.

[MaC]

Kicked France's ass, and that's a good thing, because France had no business being there.

Totally, just saw a movie about it in my African Politics class earlier today.

[Beet]

The setting for Albert Camus's existential novels.