Ya Galbi
L'Algerie vit des moments durs, tres durs. Il y a de quoi pleurer dans tout ca.The spector of the violent and bloody 90's raised its head this month with the bombings in Algiers. At least twenty three people died in attacks claimed by Al Queda in Islamic Maghreb. While hardly on the scale of the violence that rocked Algeria in the 90's, this attack is enough to raise questions about who and what is around. The FIS and the GIA have mutated and faded, possibly re-absorbed into the local Al Queda off-shoot. What is interesting is that this attack on government offices comes a scant month before elections in Algeria. Having covered Algeria off and on for a year in the early '90's, I don't see this as an announcement of things to come, rather as a temper tantrum pre-elections. Although there is not much hope for clean elections in Algeria- I do hope they go forward because every election that goes forward is one that much closer to an honest democratic process.
ON a related note: June will be the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Mohammed Boudiaf in Annaba. I had high hopes for Boudiaf, and his death left a huge breach, une fossee, in Maghrebi politics.
