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Algeria: A New Chapter In War Against Terrorism

Algeria renews its commitment to fight against terrorism and its various support networks.
Algeria's Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal holds a news conference in Algiers January 21, 2013. Sellal said a total of 37 foreign workers died, seven still missing; 29 militants had been killed and three captured alive in the siege, in a hostage crisis at an Algerian desert gas plant, which Algerian forces ended on Saturday by storming the plant. Sellal also told a news conference that a Canadian had coordinated the attack by Islamists on the site near the Libyan border. REUTERS/Stringer (Algeria - Tags: CI

A new incarnation of Algeria’s black decade — the period between 1990 and 2000, when some 200,000 people died in the civil war and fight against Islamic terrorism — seems to be on the verge of birth. Unlike in the 1990s, however, when terrorist activity in Algeria was homegrown, the newer version is cross-border and multinational, which means the fight against it will be more difficult.

The roots of the problem date back to 1991, after the military took control of the government and forced President Chadli Bendjedid to resign in January 1992. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) — which in December 1991 had emerged the winner in the first round of parliamentary elections — was banned, and its leaders, Abassi Madani and Ali Benhadj, and thousands of others were arrested. Subsequently, Islamist guerrillas fought an armed campaign against the government that would eventually leave Algeria internationally isolated.

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