Liberation front announces candidate for elections; Algeria: army kills 150 gunmen
Algeria, Politics, 9/29/2003

The secretary general of the national liberation front, Ali Bin Flis, announced yesterday that the front will hold next Saturday a conference during which it will appoint its candidate for the spring 2004 presidential elections.

In a press conference held at the headquarters of the Front in Algiers, Bin Flis said he will agree to the decision of the conference which is expected to approve the nomination after the political bureau had also approved his nomination as a nominee. Bin Flis played down the crisis the party witnessed within the few past months after few number of its leading figures rejected decisions of the March 8th conference on the "independency" of the front concerning the authority. Associates for the Algerian president Abdul Aziz Butafleika, who oppose the nomination of Bin Flis seek to convene the "Correction" conference to support the nomination of Butaflika for a second term of office.

Bin Flis said that the "national liberation front is in a good health and all officials and activists are supporting their secretary general," considering that his party has become a defender of a "policy which completely opposes the policy of the candidate President Butaflika."

Bin Flis stressed that his nomination aims at "the future, progress, pluralism, freedoms and democracy and opposes the monopolizing of authority. A matter which makes the future of the country vulnerable."

On the other hand, Algerian news reports said that the Algerian army killed 150 armed Islamists during two weeks of the fighting in the eastern part of the country.

The Algerian daily al-Watan said that bodies of 105 gunmen were found in caves near Babour mountains, 300 Km from the capital Algiers where they had resorted fleeing the government's campaigns. Al-Youm paper said that some 20 gunmen and 35 women are still in caves with the continued military operations.

Al-Watan said that the gunmen released five women and 8 children they were holding in the area in the mid of last week.

Previous Stories:
  Human rights association points fingers at Polisario atrocities in Tindouf   (9/26/2003)
  Morocco, Algeria set up security cooperation task group   (9/26/2003)
  Madani calls for reconciliation, halting violence   (9/26/2003)
  Butaflika appoints a committee for people missing due to politics   (9/23/2003)
  Butaflika quits seven ministers, Benflis is a presidential candidate   (9/6/2003)

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