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The Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.
FIS's founders disagreed (and disagree) on a variety of points, but agreed on
the core objective of establishing an Islamic State ruled by sharia law. FIS hurriedly assembled a platform in 1989,
the Projet de Programme du Front Islamique du Salut, which was widely
criticized as vague. Following the first National Assembly ballot, it issued a
second pamphlet. Economically, it strongly criticized Algeria's planned economy, urging
the need to "protect the private sector" and encourage competition - earning it
support from traders and small businessmen - and urged the establishment of Islamic banking (i.e.
interest-free banking.)
Socially, it suggested that women should be given a financial incentive to
stay at home rather than working outside - thus protecting sexual segregation
(Ali Belhadj called it immoral for men and women to work in the same office) and
increasing the number of jobs available to men in a time of chronic
unemployment. Educationally, the party was committed to continuing Arabization
of the educational system by shifting the language of instruction in more
institutions, such as medical and technological schools, from French to Arabic;
this measure struck a particular chord with the large numbers of recent
graduates, the first post-independence generation educated mainly in Arabic, who
found the continued use of French in higher education and public life jarring
and disadvantageous to themselves.
Politically, the contradiction between Madani and Belhadj's words was
noteworthy: Madani condemned violence "from wherever it came" (El
Moudjahid, 26 December 1989), and expressed his commitment to democracy and
resolve to "respect the minority, even if it is composed of one vote" (Jeune
Afrique, 12 February 1990), while Belhadj said simply that "There is no
democracy in Islam" (El-Bayane, Dec. 1989) and "If people vote against
the Law of God... this is nothing other than blasphemy. The ulama will order the
death of the offenders who have substituted their authority for that of God"
(Horizons 23 February 1989). In an interview with Daniel Pipes and Patrick Clawson, Anwar Haddam rejected this view of Belhadj,
saying, "He has been misquoted. He has been accused of things out of bitterness.
He wrote a book in which he expressed himself clearly in favor of democracy. In
it, he writes on page 91 that "the West progressed by defeating tyranny and
preserving freedoms; this is the secret of the Western world's remarkable
progress." Belhadj refers many times to the Western world and to those very
values that people are trying to deny us within our own borders."
As the radical Armed Islamic Group, hostile to FIS as well
as to the government, rose to the forefront, FIS-loyalist guerrillas, threatened
with marginalization, attempted to unite their forces. In July 1994, the MIA,
together with the remainder of the MEI and a variety of smaller groups, united
as the Islamic Salvation Army (a term that had
previously sometimes been used as a general label for pro-FIS guerrillas),
declaring their allegiance to FIS and thus strengthening FIS' hand for the
negotiations. It was initially headed by MIA's Abdelkader
Chebouti, who was superseded in November 1994 by MEI's Madani
Mezrag.
By the end of 1994, they controlled over half the guerrillas of the east and
west, but barely 20% in the center, near the capital, where the GIA were mainly
based. Their main leadership was based in the Beni
Khettab mountains near Jijel. It
issued communiqués condemning the GIA's indiscriminate targeting of women,
journalists, and other civilians "not involved in the repression", and attacking
its school arson campaign.
Meanwhile, following letters from Madani and Belhadj expressing a commitment
to pluralistic democracy and proposing possible solutions to the crisis, the
government released both from jail to house arrest on September 13. However, no
let up was observed in the fighting, and the government was unwilling to allow
them to consult with FIS figures that remained in prison; the negotiations soon
foundered, and at the end of October the government announced the failure of the
second round of negotiations, and published incriminating letters from Belhadj
that were allegedly found on the body of GIA leader Cherif Gousmi, who had been
killed on September 26.
A few FIS leaders, notably Rabah Kebir, had escaped into exile abroad. During
1994, they carried out negotiations in Italy with other political parties,
notably the FLN and FFS, and came out with a mutual agreement on January 14,
1995: the Sant'Egidio platform. This set forth a
set of principles: respect for human rights and multiparty democracy, rejection
of army rule and dictatorship, recognition of Islam, Arabness, and Berberness as essential aspects of Algerianness,
demand for the release of FIS leaders, and an end to extrajudicial killing and
torture on all sides. To the surprise of many, even Ali Belhadj endorsed the
agreement. However, a crucial signatory was missing: the government itself. As a
result, the platform had little if any effect.
Despite the government's extremely hostile reaction to the Rome Platform,
though, a third attempt at negotiations took place, starting in April with a
letter from Madani condemning acts of violence, and hopes were raised. However,
the FIS did not offer enough concessions to satisfy the government, demanding,
as usual, that FIS leaders should be released before FIS could call for a
ceasefire. In July Zeroual announced that the talks had failed, for the last
time.
In 1995, the GIA turned on the AIS in earnest. Reports of battles between the
AIS and GIA increased (resulting in an estimated 60 deaths in March 1995 alone),
and the GIA reiterated its death threats against FIS and AIS leaders, claiming
to be the "sole prosecutor of jihad" and angered by their negotiation attempts.
On July 11, they assassinated a co-founder of FIS, Abdelbaki Sahraoui, in Paris (although some
question the authenticity of their statement claiming credit for this.)
The AIS, faced with attacks from both sides and wanting to dissociate itself
from the GIA's civilian massacres,
declared a unilateral ceasefire on September 21, 1997 (in order to "unveil the
enemy who hides behind these abominable massacres"),
and disbanded in 1999. Thousands of AIS
fighters surrendered and handed over their weapons to the authorities. In
January 2000 those fighters obtained amnesty under the terms of the "Civil
Concord" decreed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after his election in April
1999. Both Mezrag and Benaïcha offered their services to the authorities to
fight the GIA and the Salafist Group for
Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has links to al-Qaida.
On July 2, 2003, Belhadj and Madani were released. (The former had been in
jail, the latter had been moved to house arrest in 1997.) Foreign media were
banned from covering the event locally, and FIS itself remains banned. However,
their release has had little apparent impact. After a decade of vicious civil
conflict, there was little enthusiasm in Algeria for reopening old wounds.
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