Madani prepares an initiative to stop violence in Algeria
Algeria, Politics, 9/11/2003

The historical leader of the banned Islamic front for salvation in Algeria, Abbas Madanai, announced yesterday that he is working on formulating "an initiative" in order to put an end to violence which has been continuous in the country since 1992, which resulted in killing more than 100,000 in the confrontations between the armed Islamist groups and the Algerian authorities, at a time when the Algerian police arrested the second highest ranking official in the front Ali Balhaj to interrogate him before he was released later in the evening.

Madanai said he is working to draw "an initiative" in order to stop violence in Algeria, but he gave no details on this initiative.

The France International radio quoted Madanai who is receiving medical treatment in Malaysia and who is barred from making press statements, as saying "I am working now to prepare an initiative to stop the blood-shed." Replying to a question on what he desires in his proposal, he said "I cannot tell you what I am going to do exactly."

On the bloody attacks attributed to the armed Islamist groups in Algeria, Madanai said that "these operations should stop." Meantime, the Algerian police detained the second official in the front Ali Balhah for interrogation before he was released later in the day in the evening. The Algerian authorities released both Balhah and Madani on July 2nd after 12 years they had spent in prison.

The former official in the front Abdul Qader Maghni said that two policemen arrested Balhah yesterday near his house in Algiers. The official added that Balhah is under continue control by civil costumes police since he was released saying he "was forced to enter into the police car" before he was taken to the central commission in the capital after he was interrogated for 6 continued hours.

Al-Bleida military court ( 50 km to the south of the capital) notified Balhah that he is banned from practicing any political activity or delivering speeches or "taking part in any social, political or cultural and religious gathering." But he refused to sign such a consent when he came out of prison.

Previous Stories:
  European body ready to press for release of Moroccan POWs in Algeria   (9/9/2003)
  Amnesty international calls Polisario to release remaining POWs   (9/8/2003)
  Al-Khabar: Algeria: Seven soldiers killed, wounded in a bomb explosion   (9/1/2003)
  High-jacking attempt against an Algerian plane foiled   (8/20/2003)
  Morocco creates committee to prevent plague creeping in from Algeria   (7/3/2003)

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