Timeline of the Algerian Civil War
Encyclopedia
The Algerian Civil War
was a conflict in Algeria
, starting in 1991 and continuing to a diminished extent up to the present.
Algerian Civil War
The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 and 200,000 lives, in a population of about 25,010,000 in 1990 and 31,193,917 in 2000.More than 70 journalists were...
was a conflict in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, starting in 1991 and continuing to a diminished extent up to the present.
1991
- November 27 - Two Islamists who had fought in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Aïssa MessaoudiAïssa MessaoudiAïssa Messaoudi, nom de guerre Tayeb el-Afghani, was an Algerian Islamist. He fought in the Afghan War. Together with a fellow Afghan veteran, Abderrahmane Dahane, he launched an attack on the Guemmar barracks on November 27, 1991, before the start of the Algerian Civil War proper; this attack is...
and Abderrahmane Dahane, attack a border post at Guemmar, killing soldiers and foreshadowing the war to come. - December 26 - First round of parliamentary elections; FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
wins 188 of the 232 (of 429) seats decided on the first ballot, putting it far ahead of any other party. FFSSocialist Forces FrontThe Socialist Forces Front , , is a social democratic and secularist, political party in Algeria. It was formed in 1963 by Hocine Ait Ahmed...
wins 25 seats, while the ex-ruling party, FLNNational Liberation Front (Algeria)The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
, wins just 15.
1992
- January 3 - The second round of AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
's general elections is cancelled. President Chadli BendjedidChadli BendjedidChadli Bendjedid was the sixth President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992.-Early career:...
forced to resign. - January 14 - It is announced that a military-backed High Council of State (HCE) is taking over.
- January 16 - The exiled ex-independence fighter Mohammed Boudiaf returns and is given leadership of the HCE.
- January 22 - Leading FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
member Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front , an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly...
arrested. - February 9 - State of emergency declared.
- March 4 - FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
dissolved by government decree. - June 29 - Mohammed Boudiaf assassinated; his role is filled by Ali KafiAli KafiAli Hussain Kafi was chairman of the High Council of State of Algeria from July 2, 1992 to January 31, 1994. He was selected as chairman four days after the death of Muhammad Boudiaf....
. - July 12 - FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
leaders Abassi Madani and Ali BelhadjAli BelhadjAli Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front .Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents of Mauritanian origin from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s...
sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. - August 26 - Algiers airport bombed; 9 deaths, 128 injured.
1993
- March 27 - Algeria cuts diplomatic relations with SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, accusing them of supporting terrorism in Algeria. - May 26 - Anti-Islamist writer Tahar DjaoutTahar DjaoutTahar Djaout was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated by the Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism. He was attacked on May 26, 1993, as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. He died on June 2,...
attacked by assassins; he died of his wounds shortly after, on June 2. - August 22 - Ex-Prime Minister Kasdi MerbahKasdi MerbahKasdi Merbah was the prime minister of Algeria from November 5, 1988 until September 9, 1989.He was a member of the FLN, which ruled the country at that time. He was assassinated on August 22, 1993....
assassinated. The government accuses the GIAArmed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
, while FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
accuses the government. - December 1 - Deadline beyond which the GIA had stated that it would consider all foreigners remaining in Algeria as targets.
1994
- January 30 - Liamine ZeroualLiamine ZéroualLiamine Zéroual was the ninth President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
given presidency of the High Council of State. - March 10 - Tazoult prison escape; guerrillas apparently attacked the prison and freed about 1000 prisoners. On the same day, the playwright Abdelkader AlloulaAbdelkader AlloulaAbdelkader Alloula was an Algerian playwright. He was assassinated by Islamists.-Biography:...
was assassinated. - August 27 - Moroccan border closed.
- September 29 - RaiRaïRaï is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s....
singer Cheb HasniCheb HasniCheb Hasni born Hasni Chakroun was a performer of Algerian Raï music. He was popular across North Africa, having reached the height of his career in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the son of a welder and grew up in a working class family where he was one of seven children...
assassinated. - November 14 - Alleged Berrouaghia prison massacreBerrouaghia prison massacreThe Berrouaghia prison massacre is alleged to have taken place on 14 November 1994, after an escape attempt at Algeria's Berrouaghia prison. Estimates of the death toll vary wildly. The government gave the figure of eight dead, while others placed the death toll at 30 or higher, and El Watan...
. - December 24 - GIA hijacks Air France Flight 8969Air France Flight 8969Air France Flight 8969 was an Air France flight that was hijacked on 24 December 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group at Algiers, where they killed three passengers, with the intention to crash it on the Eiffel tower in Paris. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the GIGN, an intervention group of the...
. - December 27 - main foreign airlines stop flights to Algeria.
1995
- January 14 - Representatives of FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
, FFSSocialist Forces FrontThe Socialist Forces Front , , is a social democratic and secularist, political party in Algeria. It was formed in 1963 by Hocine Ait Ahmed...
, and FLNNational Liberation Front (Algeria)The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
(and some smaller parties) sign the Sant'Egidio platformSant'Egidio platformThe Sant'Egidio Platform of January 13, 1995 was an attempt by most of the major Algerian opposition parties to put an end to the Algerian Civil War, which had begun in 1992 as a military coup d'état overturned election results that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front , an Islamic party,...
(text) in Rome, seeing it as a blueprint for ending the conflict. The Algerian government found its provisions unacceptable, and did not sign. - February 21 - Serkadji prison mutinySerkadji prison mutinySerkadji prison is a high-security prison in Algiers, Algeria; in 1995, about two-thirds of the 1,500 prisoners detained there have been accused or convicted of terrorism.-Insurrection:...
; 4 guards and 96 prisoners killed in a day and a half, following an escape attempt and prison mutiny in a high-security prison for people charged with or convicted of terrorism. - November 16 - Liamine ZeroualLiamine ZéroualLiamine Zéroual was the ninth President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Moscow, and Paris...
elected president.
1996
- May 21 - The seven French Trappist monkMonkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s of Tibhirine are beheaded. - July 16 - GIAArmed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
leader Djamel ZitouniDjamel ZitouniAbou Abderahmane Amine, born Djamel Zitouni , was the leader of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group , a terrorist group responsible for carrying out a series of bombings in France in 1995.He was killed by a rival faction on July 16, 1996.-References:* William J...
killed by the rival LIDD in an ambush. Antar ZouabriAntar ZouabriAntar Zouabri alias “Abou Talha Antar” or “Abou Talha″ was the leader of the Armed Islamic Group , a neo-Khawarij Islamist group in Algeria, between 1996 and 2002...
takes over.
1997
- April 3 - Thalit massacreThalit massacreThe Thalit massacre took place in Thalit village , some 70 km from Algiers, on April 3–4, 1997. 52 out of the 53 inhabitants were killed by slitting their throats. The homes of the villagers were burned down after. The attack was blamed on Islamist guerrillas.-See also:* List of massacres in...
; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas. - April 22 - Haouch Khemisti massacreHaouch Khemisti massacreThe Haouch Khemisti massacre took place before dawn on 22 April 1997 in the Algerian village of Haouch Mokhfi Khemisti , some 25 km south of Algiers near Bougara. 93 villagers were killed in 3 hours...
; 93 villagers killed. - April 23 - Omaria massacreOmaria massacreThe largest Omaria massacre took place on 23 April 1997 in the Algerian village of Omaria near Médéa, south of Algiers. Attackers armed with knives, sabers, and guns killed 42 people - including 17 women and 3 babies - in 3 hours, mutilating and sometimes burning the bodies. A pregnant women was...
in AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
; 42 villagers killed. - June 5 - Parliamentary elections. The newly created pro-government RND comes first, with 156/380 seats, followed by the Islamist MSPMovement of Society for PeaceThe Movement for the Society of Peace is an Islamist party in Algeria, led until his 2003 death by Mahfoud Nahnah. Its current leader is Bouguerra Soltani. It is aligned with the international Muslim Brotherhood...
(69) and the former single party FLNNational Liberation Front (Algeria)The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
(62); these top three form a coalition government. Zeroual remains president. - June 16 - Dairat Labguer massacreDairat Labguer massacreThe Dairat Labguer massacre took place on June 16, 1997 - less than two weeks after parliamentary elections - in the hamlet of Dairat Labguer near M'sila, 300 km southeast of Algiers...
; some 50 people killed. - July 27 - Si Zerrouk massacre; about 50 people killed.
- August 3 - Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacreOued El-Had and Mezouara massacreThe Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre took place on 3 August 1997 in two villages near Arib in the wilaya of Ain Defla, Algeria. Guerrillas killed 40-76 civilians. Algeria-Watch's timeline describes them as strange guerrillas with shaven heads and eyebrows, carrying flags emblazoned "Angry at...
; 40-76 villagers killed. - August 20 - Souhane massacreSouhane massacreThe largest of the Souhane massacres took place in the small mountain town of Souhane on the 20-21 August 1997. 64 people were killed, and 15 women kidnapped; the resulting terror provoked a mass exodus, bringing the town's population down from 4000 before the massacre to just 103 in 2002...
; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped. - August 26 - Beni-Ali massacreBeni-Ali massacreThe Beni Ali massacre took place in the mountain hamlet of Beni Ali, 40 miles south of Algiers near Chrea, on 26 August 1997. 64 or 100 people were killed. Just three days later came the even larger Rais massacre...
; 60-100 people killed. - August 29 - Rais massacreRais massacreThe Rais massacre, of August 29, 1997, was one of Algeria's bloodiest massacres of the 1990s. It took place at the village of Rais, near Larbaa and south of Algiers. The initial official death toll was 98 people killed and 120 wounded; CNN said that hospital workers and witnesses gave a toll of...
; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed. - September 1 - FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
leader Abassi Madani moved from jail to house arrest. The more radical Ali BelhadjAli BelhadjAli Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front .Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents of Mauritanian origin from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s...
remains in jail. - September 5 - Beni-Messous massacreBeni-Messous massacreThe Beni-Messous massacre took place on the night of September 5, 1997, in Sidi Youssef, an outlying neighborhood of the town of Beni-Messous. At least 87 people were killed.-Background:...
; over 87 killed. - September 19 - Guelb El-Kebir massacreGuelb El-Kebir massacreThe Guelb El-Kebir massacre took place in a small town near Beni Slimane The Guelb El-Kebir massacre took place in a small town near Beni Slimane The Guelb El-Kebir massacre took place in a small town near Beni Slimane (Medea, Algeria; see on the night of the 19 and 20 September of 1997. 53 people...
; 53 killed. - September 21 - The AIS declares a unilateral ceasefire.
- September 22 - Bentalha massacreBentalha massacreAt the village of Bentalha , about 15 km south of Algiers, on the night of September 22-23, 1997, more than 200 villagers were killed by armed guerrillas...
; over 200 villagers killed. - October 12 - Sidi Daoud massacreSidi Daoud massacreThe Sidi Daoud massacre took place outside the village of Sidi Daoud near Sig in western Algeria on the night of 12 October 1997. 43 people were killed at a fake roadblock.-External links:* - brief mention...
; 43 killed at a fake roadblock. - November 27 - Second Souhane massacreSouhane massacreThe largest of the Souhane massacres took place in the small mountain town of Souhane on the 20-21 August 1997. 64 people were killed, and 15 women kidnapped; the resulting terror provoked a mass exodus, bringing the town's population down from 4000 before the massacre to just 103 in 2002...
; 25 killed. - December 24 - Sid El-Antri massacreSid El-Antri massacreThe Sid El-Antri massacre took place on the night of 23-24 December 1997 in two small villages near Tiaret, Algeria. The death toll is unclear; Reuters cites "at least 80", or 48 according to the government, Le Jeune Independent says 117 people were killed and 11 abducted by terrorists, and a...
; 50-100 villagers killed. - December 30 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: up to 400 people are killed in four villages in the wilaya of Relizane.
1998
- January 4 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998The Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 took place in three remote villages around Oued Rhiou about 150 miles west of Algiers, during the Algerian conflict of the 1990s...
; over 170 killed in three remote villages. - January 11 - Sidi-Hamed massacreSidi-Hamed massacreThe Sidi-Hamed massacre took place on the night of January 11, 1998 , in the town of Sidi-Hamed , 30 km south of Algiers...
; over 100 people killed. - March 26 - Oued Bouaicha massacreOued Bouaicha massacreThe Oued Bouaïcha massacre took place about 150 miles south of Algiers, near Djelfa, on March 26, 1998. 52 people, including 32 children under the age of two, were killed at Oued Bouaïcha in the municipality of Bouiret Lahdab; near Had Sahary) by about fifteen men carrying axes and knives, who...
; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2. - June 25 - Anti-religious KabyleKabyle peopleThe Kabyle people are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers...
singer Matoub Lounes assassinated. - September 14 - GSPC forms as a faction splits from GIAArmed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
over its massacre policy. - December 8 - Tadjena massacreTadjena massacreThe Tadjena massacre was an incident resulting in 81 deaths. Beginning about 9:00 p.m. on December 8 and continuing until early December 9, 1998, 81 villagers were killed by armed groups in the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche just north of Tadjena, some west of Algiers, in the Chlef...
; 81 villagers killed.
1999
- April 15 - Abdelaziz BouteflikaAbdelaziz BouteflikaAbdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...
elected president, all other candidates having withdrawn alleging fraud. - June 5 - The AIS agrees in principle to disband and starts negotiating for an amnesty for its fighters.
- November 22 - Senior FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
member Abdelkader HachaniAbdelkader HachaniAbdelkader Hachani was a leading figure and founding member of the Islamic Salvation Front , an Algerian Islamist party. Following the arrests of Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj on June 30, 1991, he became the party's effective leader He led the party to victory in the National Assembly...
assassinated.
2000
- January 11 - AIS concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands.
2001
- September 23 - George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
’s Executive Order 13224Executive Order 13224Executive Order 13224 is an executive order signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on September 23, 2001 as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks....
freezes assets of the GIAArmed Islamic GroupThe Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
and GSPC as terrorist groups.
2002
- February 8 - Antar ZouabriAntar ZouabriAntar Zouabri alias “Abou Talha Antar” or “Abou Talha″ was the leader of the Armed Islamic Group , a neo-Khawarij Islamist group in Algeria, between 1996 and 2002...
, GIA leader, is killed in his hometown of BoufarikBoufarikBoufarik is a town in Blida Province, Algeria, approximately 30 km from Algiers. As of 1998, its population was 48,800.The major neighbourhoods of the city are: K'ssar, Blatan, Ben gladash, Mimoun, Trig erange, Bariyan....
. (His death had been incorrectly announced on previous occasions.)
2003
- July 2 - FISIslamic Salvation FrontThe Islamic Salvation Front is an outlawed Islamist political party in Algeria.-Goals:...
leaders Abassi Madani and Ali BelhadjAli BelhadjAli Belhadj was the Vice-President of the Islamic Salvation Front .Born in 1956 in Tunis to parents of Mauritanian origin from the wilaya of Adrar in Algeria, Belhadj became a teacher of Arabic and an Islamist activist in the 1970s...
released, having served 12 year sentences. - October 23 - GSPC leader Nabil SahraouiNabil SahraouiNabil Sahraoui , alias Mustapha Abou Ibrahim was an Algerian Islamist militant, and the head of the radical Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat from August 2003 until his death the following year.In 2003 he pleged allegiance as GSPC leader to Usama bin Ladin's Al Qaeda...
(having taken over from Hassan HattabHassan HattabHassan Hattab is the founder and first leader of the Algerian Islamist rebel group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ....
) announces that his group "strongly and fully support Osama bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
's jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
against the heretic America as well as we support our brothers in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and ChechnyaChechnyaThe Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
".
2004
- June 20 - Government announces killing of GSPC head Nabil SahraouiNabil SahraouiNabil Sahraoui , alias Mustapha Abou Ibrahim was an Algerian Islamist militant, and the head of the radical Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat from August 2003 until his death the following year.In 2003 he pleged allegiance as GSPC leader to Usama bin Ladin's Al Qaeda...
. He is succeeded by Abou Mossaab Abdelouadoud. - July - GIA leader Rachid Abou Tourab killed, according to an interior ministry statement in January 2005.
External links
- Chronologie d’une tragédie cachée, a timeline