Auteur: tami
Date: 2001-08-24 22:03:30
Tens of thousands of demonstrators from the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie have
marched into the Soummam Valley, close to the town of Bejaia.
The march was called by Berber leaders to further press their demands for cultural
recognition and social justice in the wake of four months of clashes with security forces in
which 60 civilians have been killed and thousands injured.
The Berber march into the Soummam Valley, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Algiers,
has been another show of strength to the authorities that Berber agitation will not go
away.
Organisers of the march called for a peaceful protest and though there are no reports
of unrest, Berber elders are wary because youths have often taken it upon themselves to initiate confrontation with the police once formal protests are over.
Crossroads
Appeals for calm have not been much helped by the recent tour of Kabylie by the hardline
Interior Minister, Yazid Zerhouni, who continues to accuse extreme leftists and
foreign agents of being behind the unrest.
This is despite the publication of a preliminary report under the auspices of President
Bouteflika into the causes of the violence which firmly blames the military
police for over-reacting during the early protests.
Mr Bouteflika is at a crossroads right now in which he has to decide
whether to open a dialogue with both thé Berbers and the moderate Islamist movement
to secure some social stability or to maintain a hard line against further political
accommodation.
Many believe his hands are already tied by conservative minds inside the military and
civilian establishment, who believe any concessions now would be a sign of weakness.
The date of 20 August is a key one in the history of the Algerian independence struggle.
Played down
It was on that day in 1956 that the National Liberation Front, the FLN, held a secret
congress that set the framework for the next six years of civil war and subsequent military
victory against the French.
The congress was held in the Soummam valley, close to Bejaia.
And its choice of location reflected the leading role played by the Berbers in the independence
war, a role they argue which has been consistently played down by the country's
majority Arab community.
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