In Algeria, it seems surrealistic to talk
Jacques Chirac] According to one French diplomat, 'given the links between Foccart
[an Elysée advisor] and Bob Denard
[France's most famous mercenary boss] it is inconceivable that Foccart would not have been at the least aware of Tavernier's con- Interview with Houssin Zahouan, general secretary of the tract... Since Denard is no longer operational Algerian League for Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) since his disastrous [failed coup attempt] in Comoros, a Belgian took the lead, a position which Denard would otherwise have
8th the British daily The Times reported that the mercenaries included British subjects, and that the mercenaries were being led on the ground by Alain Le Carro, former head of the personal guard of French president Mitterrand. The Times estimated that 1,000 French troops and military advisors were involved. According to the January 27 issue of the Brussels daily Le Soir, many mercenaries have been recruited from former Yugoslavia.
The French president's office has had a hand in all the dirty work done in central African these last few years; complicity in the genocide carried out by Rwanda's Habyarimana dictatorship, intervention to protect the butchers, military intervention to support the Central African Republic dictator Ange Patassé, just as French President Giscard D'Estang supported that country's infamous Emperor Bokassa, support for the Eyadema regime in Togo... a long list.
Belgium, which put Mobutu in power thirty years ago after helping assassinate Patrice Lumumba, leader of the independence movement, has continued to pillage the mineral resources of Zaire. But political relations with the dictator in Kinshasa cooled in 1990, when the presidential guard massacred 200 students on the Lubumbaschi campus. In November 1996, Belgium tried to re-build its privileged links with the dictatorship, realising that France and the USA were overtaking the former colonial power! Belgium's Secretary of State, Réginald Moreels shook hands with Zaire's Prime Minister Kengo Wa Dondo in Kinshasa, on the same day as the local population demonstrated in support of opposition leader Tschisékédi, and while the revolt in Kivu was quickly spreading across the eastern part of Zaire.
"People's" China, a long-time supporter of the Mobutu regime, sent a military delegation to Kinshasa on January 8th.* Chinese military advisors are participating in the regime's offensive to re-conquer the eastern part of Zaire. As for Israel, Mobutu's other old friend, "Fourty just-retired Israeli soldiers have begun training the dictator's presidential guard"s * 1. Comando de Recherche et Action en Profondeur. See Colette Braeckman, Le Dinosaure, Fayard 1991 2. Billets d'Afrique, February 1997. 3. La Gauche, 22/96, 6 December 96, 4. Billets d'Afrique, February 1997.
Le Soir. 5 December 1996
• Describe your working conditions Houssin Zahouan: The situation of human rights in Algeria is grave, and it could not be otherwise. It seems surrealistic to talk about human rights today in a country where the number of dead can be counted in the tens of thousands, where a state of emergency has been in existence for years, where violence is an everyday
Nevertheless, the League for the Defence of Human Rights has not given up. The situation we face is quite difficult for the simple reason that from the beginning the government has targeted our organisation as its enemy, and prevented us from opening an office. Our telephones are cut off and our post office box is monitored. In addition, we are boycotted by the media and are vilified as a proIslamic organisation. • Algerians continue to die in silence and with the almost total indifference of international public opinion. Why?
For almost 12 years, Amnesty International has been the only organisation internationally that took a systematic interest in Algeria. That said, their latest report severely underestimates the problem. Other foreign NGOs and governments are rather indifferent. In Europe, reaction is severe if a dog or animal is injured But human rights are subject to a different set of rules when it comes to developing countries, such as Algeria, where economic and strategic interests are at stake. • In June 1994 the president of the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADH), was assassinated. Why?
In 1984, Youssuf Fathallah joined me in defending political prisoners before the State Security Court. We became estranged when the state, having decided to create a progovernment group to oppose the LADDH in 1987, publicised his name as being part of the leadership of the new league. The goal was to lure him in, to integrate him into this league precisely because he was known for defending political prisoners.
He began to change the nature of the "official" league. But, given his deephonesty, he did not understand that this was beginning to derail it from the goals his sponsors wanted it to pursue. Toward the end of his life he decided to simply close down this LADH through a unification of the two leagues. He did not appreciate the seriousness of this undertaking... • What are the repercussions of the recent referendum that approved greater powers for the president?
It signified the end of the period that opened up in 1988-89. After the coup aimed at heading off the elections, an emergency situation prevailed. People simply waited for an end to the emergency - that is the reestablishment of secure conditions and a normal life. Needless to say, such expectations have not been met.
President Zeroual wanted to secure his position through the referendum. This shows things are coming to a conclusion. We have entered into the final phase; the closing off of Algerian political and institutional life.
The results of the referendum are indicative. Estimates are that 15-20% of voters participated, compared to the government's claim of 75%. This shows how far a closed system can go in its falsifications. • Was the university strike launched on October 15 the start of the rebirth of the social movements?
Neither a beginning nor an awakening. There is considerable social unrest in Algeria, which is lignored because it takes place in the context of a media black-out on both sides of the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, the situation is stymied because the leadership of the labour confederation (General Union of Algerian Workers, UGTA) is completely under government control. It does not allow this social unrest to advance as a co-ordinated national movement.
The teachers and university strikes lasted for weeks despite the repression and pressures. But there are other equally if not more important strikes in entire sectors, such as oil. These movements are still underway and will continue. The situation and the tension is such that we do not know what will make everything explode. * 1. Les Algériens souffrent et meurent en silence, Amnesty International, 1996
March 1997#286 19
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