OpEd Contributor
Olivier Guitta: Al Qaeda making giant strides in Algeria
By: Olivier Guitta, OpEd Contributor
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June 25, 2009
Algeria may be winning the military battle against Islamists, but it’s losing the ideological war. Over the last 10 years, Algeria’s efforts to root out terrorist elements have been undermined by Algerian society’s increasing tolerance of Islamists’ intolerance.
A March 2009 study by the Algiers-based women’s rights group Ciddef documents the regression of Algerian society especially when it comes to the condition of women.
For example, today only 16 percent of Algerians favor the equality of sexes, compared with 27 percent in 2000. And 70 percent of Algerians would like every Algerian woman and girl alike to wear the hijab. Nadia Ait Zai, Ciddef’s founder, explains, “Women are paying the price of ten years of Islamist pressure.”
The proof of this pressure can be seen in the soaring number of young girls throughout Algeria wearing the hijab. For example, the mother of a 6-year old girl in Dergana explained that at the beginning of the school year, her little girl came back from school with a hijab.
When asked by her mother, who does not wear the hijab, why she was doing this, the child replied, “But it’s a duty! God asked us to do so! … And you are a kafra [infidel], God will make sure you will suffer in hell.”
Another sign of the Islamization of Algeria is the rapid deterioration of living conditions among Christians in the country. First, a law passed in February 2006 restricted the practice of religions other than Islam.
Then, in May 2007, the local authorities of the 48 wilayas (states) encouraged Catholics to leave the country because of the threat of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
And since January 2008, the judicial apparatus has increased its persecution of Christians for “practice of non-Muslim worship without authorization.” In one instance, a doctor was sentenced to a two-year jail term for having prayed outside of a prayer hall.
This trend was only encouraged during the government of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem from 2006 to 2008. Belkhadem made gestures to please the Islamists, including shuttering outlets selling alcoholic beverages, condemning “miscreants” that break fasting during Ramadan, hunting “illegitimate” couples, and encouraging restaurants to refuse to serve lone women.
Belkhadem even stated that “the Quran is the only Constitution of the Algerian society,” mirroring the motto of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
The regime should realize it is playing with fire. Youngsters are being pushed into the arms of hard-core radicals. Several state-funded imams have been openly preaching jihad and recruiting, not only for fighting in Iraq, but also for domestic operations perpetrated by al Queda in the Maghreb.
The religious affairs ministry, whose job it is to regulate these imams, have yet to respond, despite numerous complaints and denunciations from state security services. Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has even shown a willingness to offer total amnesty for the radical Islamist terrorists.
The Algerian government should realize that the fight against Islamist terrorists isn’t merely a military one. By virtually endorsing the radical ideology that motivates the enemy, Algeria has forfeited the most valuable territory of all — hearts and minds.
Olivier Guitta is an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
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