Islamic leaders urge Algerian groups to maintain dialogue with government

Some thirty Islamic leaders and intellectuals from Morocco, Egypt, Malaysia, Qatar, Pakistan, Sudan, Kuwait and other Islamic countries have called upon the Islamic groups in Algeria to give up the arms and join the truce announced unilaterally by the Islamic Salvation Army, an Algerian Islamist faction.

The 30 leaders also called for maintaining a dialogue between the two sides so as to end the acts of violence which have hit the country over the past six years. They also called upon the Algerian government to support a dialogue.

In a statement the Islamic leaders called upon all national and Islamic forces in the Algerian government and opposition not to spare any efforts to support the cease-fire and commit themselves to reconciliation in order to end the massacres and heal wounds as well as to restore security and peace.

Since October 1997, the banned Algerian Islamic Salvation Front and its military wing, the Islamic Salvation Army have commited themselves to a unilateral truce with the hope of opening a dialogue with the government to end violence. Algerian President Liamine Zeroual refused any dialogue with the front saying that its "file was closed forever."

The Armed Islamic Group considered the truce as a treason and pledged to continue its campaign against the government.

This is, however, the first call of its sort made by Muslim men of religion and intellectuals since Algeria began its current cycle of violence in 1992.

Among the Islamic leaders who signed were leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin; the Moroccan banned al-Ihsan and al-Adel (Charity and Justice) group leader, Abdul Salam Yassin; leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Mustafa Mashhour and prominent Pakistani Islamic figure Qadi Hussein.