Modern Algerian political institutions, including the political party that ruled Algeria after independence, were created during the twentieth century war for independence from France. A minority of Muslims acquired French educations during the colo-
1962 (Sept. 15) Algerian national assembly proclaims Democratic and Popular
Republic of Algeria, with Ahmed Ben Bella as premier.
1964 (July 19) Military, under Houari Boumediene, overthrows Ben Bella.
1978 Boumediene dies.
1979 (Feb.) Chadli Bendjedid is elected president.
1988 President Bendjedid legalizes political parties after widespread antigovernment
Riots.
1990 Local elections demonstrate strength of Islamic Salvation Front (ISF).
1991 (Dec.) Elections to Algerian parliament begin, and Islamic party wins majority.
1992 (Jan.) Military seizes power from Bendjedid and calls off elections; period of violence follows.
1994-1995 Armed Islamic Group (GIA) breaks from the Army of Islamic Salvation.
1997 Some Army of Islamic Salvation leaders begin giving themselves up to
Government; Armed Islamic Group begins killing people in villages that have supported the Army of Islamic Salvation.
1997 (Dec. 30) Hundreds of people are massacred by Islamic fundamentalists on first day of Ramadan; massacres continue through the month of January.
1998 (Feb.) Nine members of European parliament conduct four-day peace mission to Algeria.
1998 (June 25) Pop singer Matoub Lounes, an outspoken opponent of civil war, is
Killed by Muslim rebels; many Algerians accuse government of complicity in his murder.
Nial period and developed ideals such as secular, or nonreligious, government and social and economic equality for citizens. Many members of this educated Muslim elite at first favored local selfgovernment for Algeria under French rule, but the events of World War II pushed them into a struggle for full independence.
During the war, many of Algeria's European colonists supported France's Vichy regime—the French government that collaborated with the Germans. The Vichy government took away the citizenship of Jewish Algerians and increased repression of the Muslims. After the war, which ended the Vichy regime, the split between Europeans and Muslims in Algeria became even greater when the police opened fire on people displaying proindependence placards at a war victory celebration in the city of Setif in 1945. In retaliation, some Muslims began killing European settlers in Setif. The French army, police, and vigilante groups re-
Algeria Time Line (continued)
1998 (Sept. 11) President Liamine Zeroual announces he will resign in February, 1999.
1998 (Sept. 16) After visiting Algeria, U. N. panel issues report charging
Antigovernment Islamic radicals with responsibility for most of estimated 75,000 deaths in six-year-old civil war.
1998 (Dec. 11) Reports that Muslim militants have killed eighty-one people in three northern villages raise death toll in December to more than two hundred.
1999 (Apr.) Abdelaziz Bouteflika becomes first civilian president since 1965 after winning disputed election.
2000 (Jan.) Over two thousand members of the Army of Islamic Salvation and other guerrillas surrender under a partial government amnesty ending January 13.
2001 (summer) Over one million protesters hold demonstrations against violence and government policies.
2001 (Sept.) After the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, the
Algerian government offers to provide the U. S. government with information on Algerian citizens involved with the al-Qaeda network.
2001 (Sept.) Spanish police arrest six members of the Algerian Salafist group who are believed to be connected to the al-Qaeda network.
2002 (Sept. 12) Islamic rebels ambush government forces in Batna province, killing fourteen soldiers and pro-government militia members.
Sponded by bombing Muslim areas and massacring thousands of Muslims.
In the early 1950's Algerian independence leaders in exile in Egypt organized the National Liberation Front (or FLN, from the French Front de Liberation National), a political organization dedicated to achieving independence by warfare. This warfare was to be conducted by the National Liberation Army (ALN, or Armee de Liberation National), the FLN's armed military wing. On November 1,1954, FLN guerrillas launched the war for independence with coordinated attacks against military and civil institutions throughout Algeria.
The FLN conducted a terrorist campaign aimed at disrupting French rule in Algeria and at creating such a great division between the colonists and the Muslim population that all Arabs and Berbers would be forced into the independence movement. The primary FLN leader, Ahmed Ben Bella, ordered the assassination of moderate Algerians willing to serve as intermediaries with the French. European colonists responded to FLN terrorist tactics in the countryside by organizing attacks of their own on Arabs, often engaging in random killing. While the FLN strategy did succeed in radicalizing the conflict and ultimately led to Algeria's independence, it also helped to create a climate of extreme violence that would continue to haunt the country.
In 1958 the French military in Algeria accused the French administration of providing inadequate support to put down the rebellion and seized power from the civilian government. Fearing civil war at home, France's national assembly appointed World War II hero General Charles de Gaulle premier and gave him extraordinary powers. During the war de Gaulle had led the French who had continued to fight against Germany after it occupied France. During the 1950's he was seen as a national hero who had the personal prestige to resolve the crisis.
De Gaulle did restore civilian government in Algeria and initially promised to retain Algeria as part of France. He soon changed course, however. The Algerian war was creating political divisions within France, with most of the French Left supporting Algeria's liberation movement. Moreover, the French government was coming under international pressure to grant
French paratroopers searching a man near Algiers while hunting for terrorists during Algeria’s war for independence in 1957. (National Archives)
Independence to Algeria, as other parts of Africa were gaining their independence.
De Gaulle soon opened negotiations with the FLN. In January, 1960, rioting broke out among colonists in Algiers and, backed by military units, the colonists staged an insurrection. De Gaulle went on the radio and persuaded enough of the military to back him so that he was able to put down the insurrection. In 1961 a second insurrection, led by four French generals, broke out, but de Gaulle managed to defeat this second revolt. While de Gaulle negotiated with the FLN, a terrorist army of colonists, the Secret Army Organization (known as the OAS, from its initials in French) engaged in bombings and widespread destruction. Nevertheless, in a referendum held on July 1,1962, the people of Algeria overwhelmingly voted for independence from France.
World History
