Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World. Annual Report. 2004
Published July 2005

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Algeria

Capital : Algeria

Date of Independence : 5/7/1962
Area : 2,381,740 Km
Population (in millions) : 33 (est. 2005)
Rate of Population Increase : 1.22 (est. 2005)
Ethnic Groups : Arabs and Berbers 99%, Europeans 1%
Religious Groups : 99% Muslims (Sunna), 1% Christians & Jews
Illiteracy : 30%
No. of Provinces : 48 states
Polity : Republic
Head of State : Abdelaziz Bouteflika
No. of Political Parties : 30
GDP (in millions)ppp : $212,300 (2004)
GDP per Capitappp : $6,600 (2004)

Overview

Following 130 years of French colonial rule Algeria gained its independence in 1962 after an eight-year armed struggle in which one million Algerians died. The National Liberation Front (FNL) ruled for almost 30 years as a one-party regime up till October 1988 when massive “hunger” riots forced President Chadli Benjedid to introduce a new constitution that permitted the creation of political parties. The first round of multiparty contested national elections which took place in 1992 were canceled by the army before the second round could take place when they showed that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a coalition of various Islamist opposition groups, was poised to achieve a sweeping parliamentary victory.

The military intervention forced President Benjedid to resign, banned FIS, and subsequently imprisoned its leaders. This drove the Islamists to resort to an armed insurrection against the regime which set off a bloody civil war that claimed the lives of about 150,000 people. While most of the massacres were perpetrated by the radical Islamists government–backed militias have also been responsible for mass killings. Human rights groups have also charged security forces with thousands of “disappearances.” Although the armed violence has subsided considerably in the last couple of years, the country remains under martial law. The 1999 Civil Amnesty Law introduced by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which granted amnesty to Islamic radicals who renounce violence, led to a truce, followed by the formal disbanding of the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS). Two smaller Islamic groups, offshoots of the AIS, have however rejected the truce and continue their violent struggle. In the month preceding the last parliamentary elections of 2002 Islamist violence claimed 390 lives. Thus Algeria’s first pluralist political experiment rapidly devolved into civil strifeinvolving wide-spread use of terror tactics that paralyzed the country for almost a decade, and from it is presently emerging.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties
 

1. The Executive, Political Parties and Elections. Algeria has a military political system with a bicameral legislature: the National People’s Assembly (the lower house) which is elected by popular vote, and the Council of the Nation (upper house) of which two thirds of its members are elected by the provincial assemblies and the remaining third appointed by the President. The 389 seats in the lower house are contested by 30 political parties. However, only nine parties won seats in the last parliamentary elections of May 2002. Turnout in the elections reached an all-time low of 46% as a result of electoral boycott by the two main pro-Berber parties and the Socialist Forces Front. The important outcome of the election was that they did not produce any substantial parliamentary opposition to the party backed by the military― this time around the National Democratic Rally (NDR). Political parties are considered fragile and internally fragmented, no doubt partly because of the heavy restrictions imposed upon them by the government. In 2003, the Judiciary imposed a complete moratorium on the activities of the National Liberation Front, the party that once ruled alone for 25 years after independence. The suspension came as a result of a law suit filed by active members of the party, claiming that Bin Flees, after being granted wide powers by the party’s General Committee, has virtually frozen all activities of the party.

The last municipal elections took place on 10/10/2002 in which the NFL gained 798 seats out of 1960, with the Reform Party coming second with 374 seats, and the National Democratic Rally third with 336 seats. The presidential elections of 1999 were deeply flawed by the fact that Abdelaziz Bouteflika ran unopposed when the other candidates withdrew on the eve of the elections alleging the lack of any guarantees to protect against voting fraud. The 2004 presidential elections, however, were contested by six candidates; and though the incumbent President, won 85% of the vote yet the elections, which were monitored by foreign observers, were considered generally fair.

2. The Judiciary, Trials, and Detention. The judiciary is not independent. The fact that judges are appointed for a 10-year term subject to renewal, in addition to the Justice Ministry’s power to remove them at will, makes them vulnerable to executive pressure and influence. In August 2000, President Boutaflika replaced 80% of the entire corp of lower court judges. Moreover, the authority of the Judiciary is curtailed by executive decrees. Trials in normal civil and criminal courts are conducted with reasonable fairness. Military courts try security cases, wherein due process standards are usually ignored. This is compounded by the reluctance of many lawyers to defend those accused in security cases for fear of retaliatory measures against them by the authorities. Under the state of emergency law imposed since 1992, the right of detainees is severely curtailed. The constitution provides that incommunicado detention before arraignment not exceed 48 hours, a limit which is usually respected by the police in normal non-terrorist cases, but not so in cases involving militant Islamists.

Although the number of reported abuses by the security forces has continued to decline in the last few years, it is still by no means insignificant;_and the UN special Rapporteur for Torture has received a large number of alleged incidents of torture and ill-treatment during interrogations. On the other hand in September 2004 the director of the security forces stated that 2269 gendarmes and 211 policemen had been dismissed for misuse of authority and arbitrary arrests. The number of political prisoners at present is estimated to be in the thousands, most of whom are suspected members of radical Islamic groups or their sympathizers. But hundreds are also government officials arrested on charges of corruption. Prolonged pre-trial detention remains a problem particularly with regard to crimes considered terrorist or subversive acts; in such cases the pretrial detention could last up to 60 months.
 

3. Civil Society: Freedom of Assembly and Association. Free association and assembly is guaranteed by law, but the present state of emergency constrains both freedom of association and of assembly. Several political parties have also been denied license on suspicion of their Islamic affiliations. The government has also refused to register some NGOs on “security grounds” without giving further details. Some NGOs, however, continue to operate unhindered despite their illegal status. A vibrant community of human rights associations operate openly. Under the emergency laws that are in place since 1992 freedom of assembly and demonstration are sharply curtailed, and all public gatherings required prior permission from the authorities. However, peaceful demonstrations are allowed without need for prior governmental approval. But organizations that focused exclusively on the investigation of the cases involving the “disappearance” of people have been denied registration. Indeed, Abdelrahman Khalil, a leading official of SOS Disparus which supports the families of the disappeared was arrested three times in 2002, and eventually sentenced to a six–month prison term. However, in response to the appeals of many families, the government has established a committee to look into the cases of those that have disapproved.

Workers can form unions and are permitted to strike, however, the government can dissolve unions if it deems their activities detrimental to public order or morale.
 

4. Freedom of Speech and the Media. Freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Constitution. Though the press is outspoken in its criticism of the government it is nevertheless constrained by harassment of journalists and by vaguely defined clauses in the law such as “defamation of the President or state officials.” In 2001 the Penal Code was amended to stiffen the penalty for this offense against “any authority of public order.” In May 2003 the political cartoonist for Liberte, Ali Dilem, was sentenced to a 6-month suspended sentence for defamation. About 70 journalists have been killed over the last 10 years. Nevertheless, the Algerian press remains one of the most vibrant and outspoken in the Arab world. In 2003, the authorities effectively shut down six major newspapers for several days when the government’s printing houses refused to print these dailies in retribution for having exposed corruption in real estate dealings made by officials. In a show of solidarity, five other newspapers also did not come out on 22/9/2003, a day which left the capital without newspapers.

The broadcast media is state owned and government controlled. They are organs that mainly present the government’s views. In the last quarter of 2003, presidential opposition candidates were denied access to the media in order to enhance the reelection chances of President Boutaflika. Satellite dishes are widespread, access to the internet is without hindrance.

Intellectual and cultural freedoms are not restricted as evidenced by the wide variety of conferences held on numerous topics involving domestic and foreign participants.
 

5. Freedom of Religion. Islam is the state’s religion. The small Christian and Jewish communities in Algeria are allowed to worship freely in existing churches and synagogues. But the law prohibits public assembly for practicing a faith other than Islam; and all non-Muslim “religious activities” require prior official permission. Unique among all other Arab countries, Algeria has a Constitution which specifically bars any government-imposed sanctions for conversion from Islam to another faith. Tradition and culture, however, prohibit such conversions. Mosques are under close government control and are open to the public only during prayer hours. All Muslim preachers must obtain prior governmental approval, otherwise they might be charged and imprisoned for delivering sermons that “violate the noble nature of the mosque,” or that “rend the social fabric.”

6. Women and the Marginalized. Although the Constitution disallows discrimination on the basis of gender, traditions and the Family Code, which is based in large part on Shari’a (Islamic Law) treats women as minors under the guardianship of a husband or a male relative. It also discriminates against women with regard to divorce, inheritance, and child custody. Women have also suffered from attacks by radical Islamists for not observing the appropriate Islamic code of dress or for going to beauty salons or even working outside the home. The President appointed in 1999 the country’s first female Provincial Governor, and has recruited a greater number of women in government. The new cabinet has five female ministers and the upper house has seven female members. However, the proportion of women in the workforce remains still relatively low because of biased societal stereotypes. There are many women’s rights groups which though small in membership are quite active in their efforts to foster women’s economic welfare and amend the Family Code.

The Berbers (Amazigh): This ethnic minority in Algeria, which totals about 13 million, does not face overt official discrimination but their culture and language is not fully recognized legally. They have also been targets of Arab Islamic radicals. Berber demonstration in defense of their rights have frequently been dispersed with excessive official force.

The Berbers live in Libya, Morocco and Tunisia but their greatest numbers and most significant political weight is in Algeria. The Berbers of Algeria, who are of non-Arab ethnic descent, represent some 40% of the population. They were the original inhabitants of the country until its conquest by the Muslim Arabs in the ninth century which led to the conversion of the Berbers to Islam. At present 25% of Algerians speak the Amasigh Berber language or any one of its 10 dialects. The problem for this significant ethnic minority arose as a result of the central governments’ attempts to Arabize the Berbers and marginalize their language and culture. Indeed the Algerian Constitution has accentuated the problem of the Berbers by stating specifically that “Algeria is a land of Islam, an Arab land, and an intrinsic part of the Greater West Arab region, and takes pride in its 1954 Revolution.” In 1996, the failure of the Berbers to gain official recognition for their language and culture led them to organise a nation-wide strike, which lasted for nine months and finally forced the government to grant the Berbers much of their demands. Nevertheless, since then sporadic violence has erupted from time to time between the Berbers and the government security forces in the Berber tribal regions. Despite significant government concessions, the Berbers continue to complain of marginalization in the governments’ development plans, the imprisonment of some of their leaders, and of insufficient recognition of their culture and language. As part of Berber pressure, their main political parties boycotted the last presidential elections.

2. Prospects for Democratic Change

The government’s human rights record leaves much to be desired. But some improvement has occurred as evidenced by the diminishing number of reported abuses by the security forces, and by the increased public debate about human rights. A human rights commission established by the government has also been active in proposing several initiatives to promote greater sensitivity to human rights. Also the civil war which began some twelve years ago has wound down and the Berber restlessness of the last few years has largely come to an end as a result of the government’s responsiveness to some of their justifiable urgent human rights demands. These changes that provide for socio-political stability augur well for further liberalization. But to move towards a genuine democracy requires a radical restructuring of the system to do away with its entrenched authoritarian elements and establish new democratic institutions and measures that would allow for free and fair contested elections, provide an independent judiciary, lift emergency rule, and eliminate all discrimination against women and the Berber minority.