Algeria's President Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika relentlessly pursues plans for a referendum on a general amnesty proposal. Rasha Saad reviews the controversy Algerian President Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika announced that a national referendum will soon be held on a controversial amnesty proposal which he hopes will lead to Islamist militants laying down their arms, ending more than a decade of violence which has killed up to 200,000 people since 1992. "My objective is to put an end to the violence ... I am waiting for you to get our country out of the deadly crisis," Bouteflika said. While details of the amnesty proposal are yet to be revealed, it is expected to include security forces members suspected of extrajudicial killings and being implicated in the disappearance of thousands of Algerians during the 1990s. "I call on all Algerian men and women to learn again how to live together and join forces to improve their conditions and achieve prosperity for their loved ones," Bouteflika added. "That's the aim of the national reconciliation initiative which you should support through a referendum to which you will be invited soon," he said. In April, at least 400 Algerian militants indicated to the authorities they were prepared to lay down their arms, on condition that president Bouteflika offer a general pardon for members of armed groups, state-armed militias and security forces implicated in human rights abuses. It will be Bouteflika's second amnesty for rebels after a first one approved by a referendum in 1999 as part of his national reconciliation plan. The first amnesty was successful and saw the surrender of thousands of militants. It also ended the aggressive military campaign by the now all-but-paralysed Armed Islamic Group (GIA), that was widely seen as the main military threat to the regime. The number of disappearances has dropped significantly during the last five years, and today there are hardly any disappearances in the country. Many Algerians credit Bouteflika for restoring stability. They also believe that relative peace has attracted sustained foreign investment in recent years. However, these political gains did not prevent international human rights groups and families of the victims of the violence from criticising the amnesty plan, which was first announced in April, warning it may permanently deprive victims or their families of their right to truth, justice and reparations. In a statement, the rights groups, including Amnesty International, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, the International Commission of Jurists and the International Federation for Human Rights, reminded the Algerian government that it cannot evade its international obligations by adopting national legislation which runs contrary to them, regardless of whether this is done by parliament or by referendum. "Respect for and protection of fundamental human rights cannot be subject to a majority vote," the statement read. A recent fact-finding mission to Algeria by Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded that if Bouteflika is to achieve a genuine national reconciliation, authorities must investigate the horrific crimes Algerians suffered and hold the perpetrators accountable. It said that a national referendum or a parliamentary vote in favour of an amnesty cannot negate the right of victims and their beneficiaries to know the truth and to receive reparations. Nor would such a measure end the government's obligation to ensure that the perpetrators of grave violations do not enjoy immunity for their actions. According to Eric Goldstein, who lead the mission "Algerians need to know what mechanisms and failures made it possible for killings, disappearances and torture to be committed on such a large and systematic scale." Equally alarmed are the families of the victims of the violence who overwhelmingly insist that the perpetrators of killings, kidnappings and "disappearances" thrived in a climate of impunity. Layla Egel, head of the Association of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria, said that the families of the disappeared do not oppose a general amnesty if it is applied in accordance with the judicial frame and does not help the perpetrators escape punishment. Relatives of the disappeared have filed hundreds of complaints before the courts, but they charge the justice system has not helped them find a single person who disappeared. Nor have the courts identified a single security official believed responsible for the disappearances. The authorities have similarly failed to investigate the vast majority of crimes perpetrated by armed groups or bring their perpetrators to justice. According to the HRW report, Algeria's ad hoc commission on the disappeared has not provided any concrete information at all to the families of the 6,146 individuals whose cases had been brought to its attention. The commission was charged with "seeing that appropriate authorities undertake all necessary measures to find the persons declared as disappeared and to proceed to identify any bodies that are found". In March, it submitted its final report to President Bouteflika's office, but the report has not yet been made public. Without providing any evidence, the head of the commission, Farouk Ksentini, has stated in media interviews that the disappearances were isolated acts of individual state agents, thereby attempting to exonerate their commanders from any criminal responsibility and absolve the state from its duty to investigate and hold those responsible to account. Ksentini has also stressed that state agents should benefit from the forthcoming amnesty measure. Families of the "disappeared" have read these announcements as the final denial of truth and justice. "The creation of the ad hoc commission was a welcome acknowledgment that state agents were responsible for thousands of disappearances," Goldstein said. "But beyond this the body has done little to advance the causes of truth and justice."
