Algeria massacre 1997

On 3 April 1997 52 of the 53 inhabitants of the Algerian village of Thalit were massacred. Islamic rebels were supposedly behind, but no one has been brought to justice. This happened during the civil war in Algeria. It started in 1992 after the Army removed president Bendjedid who permitted legislative elections. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the first round in December 1991, and was expected to win a majority in the second round scheduled for January 1992. The new military-backed state-council arrested many FIS-leaders and banned the party. Militant groups like the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Islamic Salvation Army were established and started to attack and kill both government officials and civilians. But the security forces were also heavily involved in the violence. A number of massacres occurred over the next years, especially in 1997-98.

 

Map with sites of Algerian massacres 1997-1998.

The government injected huge amounts of oil-revenues into the economy including employment. This was one factor which likely shortened the war.  But GIA became more and more isolated, and the army defeated or arrested many of their members. In 2002 the worst violence was over, but new groups like the al-Qaeda in Maghreb has continued attacks. President Bouteflika made a decree in 2006 giving amnesty to state security forces and militias. Victim’s families and human rights groups opposed this as they needed justice. An amnesty was offered militants, and some took it, but hundreds continued their violent operations. In January 2013 they occupied the gas-facility In Amenas and killed 39 foreign hostages and one Algerian security guard. There is still a huge need for facts about what happened during the war and justice for the families of victims.

Sources and more information

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9704/06/algeria.massacre/
http://www.algeria-watch.org/mrv/2002/bilan_massacres.htm
http://mondediplo.com/1997/10/alger1
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15001/Algeria/220556/Civil-war-the-Islamists-versus-the-army
http://www.hicn.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/wp43.pdf
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE28/047/1997/en/257abf9d-9fa8-4c4c-a82a-fcda404723e1/mde280471997en.pdf
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE28/023/1997/en/7a507c39-e9cf-11dd-a490-5f9258d9f20e/mde280231997en.html

I am open to your comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik