Algeria

The earliest inhabitants of what is now Algeria were Berbers, tribal peoples of unknown origin. Cave paintings in the Ahaggar region dating between 6500 and 1200 BC depict a people who raised cattle and hunted game in the area. Ancient Times About 1100 BC, the Phoenicians, a seafaring people from the eastern Mediterranean, founded a North African state at Carthage in what is now Tunisia. During the Punic Wars (3rd-2nd century BC) between Carthage and Rome, Massinissa (reigned 202-148 BC), a Berber chief allied with Rome, established the first Algerian kingdom, Numidia. His grandson, Jugurtha, was subjugated by Rome in 106 BC.  Numidia prospered under Roman rule. Large estates produced so much grain and olive oil that the region became known as the granary of Rome. A system of military roads and garrisoned towns protected the inhabitants from nomadic tribes. In time, these towns grew into miniature Roman cities. The decline of Rome brought many changes. Roman legions were withdrawn to defend other frontiers, and in the 3rd century AD regional independence was briefly expressed in the Donatist movement, a North African Christian sect persecuted by the Roman authorities. The Vandals, a Germanic tribe, invaded the region in the 5th century and stayed on to establish their own kingdom. Barely a century later these warriors were themselves overthrown by an army of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, whose dream was to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. Medieval Islamic Dynasties Justinian's dream was short-lived. In the 7th century the Arabs invaded North Africa, bringing with them a new religion, Islam. In Algeria they were resisted by a woman leader-Kahina, the high priestess of a tribe supposedly converted to Judaism-but eventually the Berbers submitted to Islam and Arab authority; Algeria became a province of the Umayyad caliphate. The Arabs, however, remained largely an urban elite.  An internal conflict over the succession to the caliphal throne enabled the Berbers to form their own Islamic government in the 8th century. Many of them joined the branch of Islam known as Shia, and they founded several tribal kingdoms. One of the most prominent was that of the Rustamids at Tahert in central Algeria. Tahert prospered in the 8th and 9th centuries. Between the 11th and 13th centuries two successive Berber dynasties, the Almoravids and the Almohads, brought northwest Africa and southern Spain under a single central authority. Tlemcen, the capital under the Almohads, became a city of fine mosques and schools of Islamic learning, as well as a handicrafts center. Algerian seaports like Bejaïa, Annaba, and the growing town of Algiers carried on a brisk trade with European cities, supplying the famed Barbary horses, wax, fine leather, and fabrics to European markets. Ottoman Rule The collapse of the Almohads in 1269 set off fierce trade competition among Mediterranean seaports, both Christian and Muslim. To gain advantage, city governments began to hire corsairs-pirates who seized merchant ships and held crews and cargo for ransom. Algiers became a primary center of corsair activities. In the 16th century the Christian Spaniards occupied various North African ports. Algiers was blockaded and forced to pay tribute. Other ports were captured outright. The desperate Muslims called for help from the Ottoman sultan, then the caliph of all Islam. Two corsair brothers, the Barbarossas ("Redbeards"), persuaded the sultan to send them with a fleet to North Africa. They drove the Spaniards out of most of their new possessions, and in 1518 the younger Barbarossa, Khayr ad-Din, was appointed beylerbey, the sultan's representative in Algeria. Because of its distance from the Ottoman capital at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), Algiers was governed as an autonomous province. Externally, the effectiveness of its corsair fleet made Algiers a power in its own right; Algerian pirates dominated the Mediterranean. European states paid tribute regularly to ensure protection for their ships, and prisoner ransom brought a rich income to the province. Internal security was maintained by Ottoman janissary (from Turkish, yeniçeri, "new special troops") garrisons. In the late 18th century improved firepower and ship construction enabled the Europeans to challenge corsair domination. By then, the days of Ottoman Algiers were numbered. International agreements to outlaw piracy made collective action against the corsair capital possible. In 1815 the United States sent a naval squadron against Algiers. The following year an Anglo-Dutch fleet nearly destroyed its defenses, and in 1830 the city was captured by a French army. French Colonization France annexed Algeria in 1834, and the new regime aroused fierce resistance from tribes accustomed to indirect Ottoman rule. Their leader, Abd al-Qadir, an Islamic holy man claiming descent from Muhammad, used hit-and-run tactics that were highly effective; he was not completely subdued until 1847, and he remains a hero to modern Algerian nationalists. With Abd al-Qadir out of the way, France began to colonize Algeria in earnest, and European settlers poured into the country. To encourage settlement, the French confiscated or purchased lands at low prices from Muslim owners. Algeria became an overseas department of France, controlled for all practical purposes by the European minority, the colons (colonists). The colons formed a privileged elite. With the help of large infusions of capital, they developed a modern economy, with industries, banks, schools, shops, and services similar to those at home. Algerian agriculture was geared to the French economy; large estates produced wines and citrus fruit for export to France, just as North Africa had once served Rome. Some Europeans made vast fortunes, but the majority were small farmers, tradespeople, shopkeepers, and factory workers. All, however, shared a passionate belief in Algérie Française-a French Algeria. The Muslim population, although benefiting from social services and economic development, remained a disadvantaged majority, subject to many restrictions. By French law they could not hold public meetings, carry firearms, or leave their homes or villages without permission. Legally, they were French subjects, but to become French citizens, with full rights, they had to renounce their faith. Few did so. The Muslim population grew steadily; by 1930, it numbered 5 million. A small minority, educated in French schools, adopted French culture, although they were not accepted as equals by the colons. From this group came the initial impetus for Algerian nationalism. Rise of Algerian Nationalism Algerian nationalism developed after World War I (1914-1918) among groups of Muslims who at first wanted only equality with the Europeans. Ferhat Abbas and Ahmed Messali Hadj, a Communist, were among the most prominent Algerian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936 the French government devised a plan providing full equality for Muslim war veterans and professionals, but it was scuttled by colon deputies in the French National Assembly. Frustrated by the colons' stubborn resistance to reform, Abbas joined forces with Messali during World War II (1939-1945) to organize a militant anti-French party, the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty. After the war the Algerian Organic Statute (1947) set up Algeria's first parliamentary assembly, with an equal number of European and Muslim delegates, but this satisfied neither natives nor colons and proved ineffective. The more militant nationalists were by then beginning to favor armed revolt. In the early 1950s many went into hiding or exile. War of Independence In March 1954 Ahmed Ben Bella, an ex-sergeant in the French army, joined eight other Algerian exiles in Egypt to form a revolutionary committee that later became known as the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN). A few months later (November 1), the FLN launched its bid for Algerian independence by coordinated attacks on public buildings, military and police posts, and communications installations. A steady rise in guerrilla action over the next two years forced the French to bring in reinforcements; eventually, 400,000 French troops were stationed in Algeria. FLN strategy combined Abd al-Qadir's guerrilla tactics with deliberate use of terrorism. The guerrilla tactics effectively immobilized superior French forces, while indiscriminate murders and kidnappings of Europeans and Muslims who did not actively support the FLN created a climate of fear throughout the country. This in turn brought counterterrorism, as colons and French army units raided Muslim villages and slaughtered the civilian population.  In 1956 the war spread to the cities. In Algiers, cafés, schools, and shops became targets, as the nationalists sought to weaken colon morale and draw international attention to their cause. The Algiers uprising was ruthlessly put down. Elsewhere, the French gradually gained the upper hand by using new tactics. Collective punishment was meted out to whole villages suspected of aiding guerrillas. Other groups were deported to guarded refugee camps. Electrified fences along the Tunisian and Moroccan borders cut off the main FLN army from units inside Algeria. Despite their military superiority, the French were unable to find a political solution satisfactory to both the colons and the FLN. International criticism of France increased, and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization worried about the commitment of French forces to an unpopular war. In May 1958 the colons and French army officers joined hands in Algiers to overthrow the French government, charging it with vacillation. A Committee of Public Safety demanded the return to office of General Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader of the Free French, as the only one who could settle the war and preserve French Algeria. De Gaulle, however, was a realist. Once in power, he recognized that the war was unwinnable. In 1959 he announced his intention of allowing Algerians to choose between independence and continued association with France. The plan struck the colons like a thunderbolt. Outraged, they staged an unsuccessful revolt against de Gaulle early in 1960, and in 1961 a group of army generals again tried to overthrow him. Both times, however, the bulk of the army remained loyal to the government. Associated with the generals' plot was a group of military and colon extremists, called the Secret Army Organization, which at the same time carried on a brutal campaign of counterterrorism against both the FLN and French authorities. In March 1962 a cease-fire was finally arranged between government and FLN representatives at Evian, France. In the long-awaited referendum, held the following July, Algeria voted overwhelmingly for independence. The colons began a mass evacuation; before the end of the year most of them had left the country. Independence The Evian agreements provided for immediate independence for Algeria, with special aid from France to help the country recover from eight years of devastation. The French also returned the Sahara, with its vast French-developed oil and gas deposits. On its side, the FLN guaranteed protection and full civil rights for the remains of the European population; after a three-year period they would choose between Algerian and French citizenship. The material and human costs of the war were staggering. French casualties were about 100,000, Algerian more than 1 million, and another 1.8 million were refugees. An additional 150,000 pro-French Muslims became victims of the FLN as it settled old accounts after the cease-fire. The departure of the Europeans deprived Algeria of nearly all its skilled labor force. To make matters worse, factional rivalries within the FLN, kept in the background during the war, now became visible. At a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, FLN leaders approved a charter that specified Algeria as a socialist state, with the Front as the only legal political organization. Authority would be exercised by a central FLN political bureau. The economy would be state controlled, with former colon lands managed by committees of their workers. The leaders were able to agree on little else, and open warfare soon broke out between factions. Colonel Houari Boumedienne, chief of staff of the Army of National Liberation, threw his support to Ahmed Ben Bella, who in September 1962 was elected the first president of independent Algeria. Ben Bella served as president for three years and made a start toward putting the country back on its feet. The first constitution was approved by voters in 1963, providing a presidential form of government. The only check on the president's power would be censure by two-thirds of the National Assembly. With such unrestricted authority, Ben Bella became totally absorbed in his personal power and prestige, more and more preoccupied with international leadership, and at the same time more autocratic at home. By mid-1965 Boumedienne, then minister of defense, felt Ben Bella had gone too far; he had him arrested in a bloodless coup and assumed supreme power. Recent Developments Under Boumedienne Algeria finally began to capitalize on its vast resources. The army rather than the FLN became a dominant force. Boumedienne formed a 26-member Council of the Revolution as supreme authority; its members were army commanders and his close associates. Factionalism and personal rule were strictly prohibited. Although Boumedienne remained first among equals-he was simultaneously president, prime minister, and minister of defense-the principle of collegial leadership was maintained. In addition to rapid economic development, Boumedienne brought to the country a viable political system. The constitution of 1976 defined Algeria as a socialist state under FLN leadership. Boumedienne was legally elected president. When he died in 1978, Colonel Chadli Benjedid was elected to succeed him. Benjedid continued his predecessor's policies but relaxed some of Boumedienne's strict controls; he released and pardoned former president Ben Bella in 1980. Benjedid was reelected in 1984, running unopposed. In 1988, prompted by clashes between mostly youthful protesters and government troops, Benjedid loosened the FLN's monopoly on political power. Reelected in December to a third five-year term, he secured passage of a new constitution in February 1989. In the 1990 provincial and municipal elections, the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front defeated the FLN by an overwhelming margin. In January 1992, after a first round of balloting made it likely that the Islamic fundamentalists would win control of parliament, a group of military and civilian officials forced Benjedid to resign. They canceled the election, suspended parliament, and established a new High Committee of State with Mohammed Boudiaff as president. When Boudiaff was assassinated in June 1992, Ali Kafi was named to replace him as head of state. He was replaced by a five-member collective presidency, known as the High Council, with Kafi at its head. In January 1994, the council named Defense Minister Liamine Zeroual as Algeria's president for a three-year interim term. However, in October Zeroual announced that presidential elections would be held at the end of 1995. A former diplomat and career soldier who fought for Algeria's independence from France, Zeroual was given wide latitude to negotiate with the Islamic Salvation Front and other fundamentalist groups. Since elections were held in 1992, Algeria has been wrought with civil strife. In an effort to undermine the government, militant Muslims have attacked members of the military and government, and individuals expressing secular or non-Muslim views, such as journalists, teachers, and members of the clergy. Foreigners have also been targets of terrorist attacks, including an airplane highjacking in late 1994. By the end of that year, an estimated 30,000 people had been killed by government forces or members of the opposition. In 1994 the government and five opposition groups met to discuss peace agreements, but were unable to compromise on a final proposal. In 1995, members of opposition groups met in Italy with a Catholic mediating group to discuss prospects of peace. Despite protests from fundamentalist Islamic groups, Zeroual was reelected in November 1995 in Algeria's first multiparty presidential elections since independence. To counteract widespread suspicion that Zeroual would rig his own victory, the president invited monitors from the United Nations (UN), the Arab League, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to oversee the elections. About 75 percent of eligible voters participated, despite threats from the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front to kill anyone who voted. The elections, which Zeroual won with 61 percent of the vote, were judged to be a fair popular endorsement of his administration. In a significant show of international confidence in the Zeroual government, three multinational oil and gas corporations signed lucrative development agreements with the Algerian state-owned oil and gas company in the following months. The largest of these were a $3.5-billion, 25-year deal with British Petroleum in December 1995 and a $1.5-billion contract with Arco in February 1996. Violence continued to plague Algeria into the late 1990s. In 1996 and 1997 antigovernment Islamic groups staged numerous deadly, indiscriminate car bombings and waves of killings, notably in and around Algiers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in early 1997. Retaliation by government security forces was brutal in kind. Between 1992 and early 1997, at least 50,000 people were killed in Algeria.