After the coup
THE Algerian establishment has responded to the victory of the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) In the first round of the legislative elections ( see IV no. 220) by cancelling the second round and setting up a military
On the evening of January 22 the provisional leader of the
FIS, Hashani, was arrested and it is possible that political
While the spectre of a fundamentalist dictatorship has been banished for the time being, that of a military dictatorship is taking chape, and the democratic window opened after the mass revolts of December 1988 Is being closed. There Is
CHAWKI SALHI - January 23, Algiers
February 3, 1992 • #221 International Viewpoint government.
parties will be banned.
talk of a state of emergency.*
ALGERIA
A
T A MOMENT when the regime seemed to be preparing to use legal means - with
341 appeals about electoral the January 1992 meeting of the Internationmalpractices being filed — to combat the al Executive Committee of the Fourth Inter-
FIS' success and head off a fundamentalist tide in the second round, a coup put a violent end to the electoral process.
In fact the appeals would only have allowed 12 of the 188 seats the FIS gained yet the time".
The regime is on the offensive, hoping to push the FIS into making mistakes, and now arresting their chief for calling on soldiers to follow the path of God. It seems that the military are intending to maintain some semblance of democratic forms, but they must dismantle the FIS or at least cut it
The following resolution was passed by national