Islam's Effect On Africa
DhimmiWatch

Hugh Fitgerald

Islam has had its effect on Africa, all right. In the north, the thriving agriculture, and flourishing civilization of migrants and Phoenician traders and Jews and christianized Berbers, the Other Shore of Mediterranean civilization, from where among others Tertullian and Augustine of Hippo came, was destroyed by the Arab Muslim invaders, with the consequences for North Africa that we can all see.

It was only in the period of French rule in Algeria, from 1830 to 1962, that agriculture was revived (including that of the vineyards), that the desertification that Arab non-methods of cultivation brought everywhere they conquered was reversed, and where universities, museums, and other outward and visible signs of civilization were established and maintained.

For that moment, Algeria again possessed something like civilization -- and now it has relapsed, as of course it could have been predicted that it would, into a scarcely endurable and violent place, where the only hope is to get, as those chanting crowds repeated when they came out to "greet" a visiting Jacques Chirac a year or two ago: "Visa, Visa!"

What about black Africa? If you wish to see the traditional Arab Muslim treatment of black Africans, look at the 2 million dead over the past 20 years of scarcely uninterrupted warfare and genocide in the southern Sudan.

If you wish to see the traditional Arab Muslim treatment of black African Muslims, prompted by the Arab supremacist ideology that Islam carries within it, and that does not admit of non-Arabs being as "fully Muslim" as the Arabs, look at Darfur, through the lenses even of Nicholas Kristof.

If you seek other examples, look at the unceasing pressure of Muslims in northern Nigeria on the Christians of southern Nigeria. Read again the Ahiara Declaration of Col. Ojukwu, in 1969, the leader of the Biafran Nation. Advanced Christians, chiefly but not entirely Ibo, sought independence as a way of protecting themselves from the "Jihad" (Col. Ojukwu's carefully-chosen word) being waged against them.

If you seek other evidence for what Islam, what Arabs, have meant for black Africa, do take a moment to read Willis on the Arab slavers of Africa, and the Arab slave trade that began earlier, and ended later (where it ended at all) in black Africa.

Do read Jan Hogedoorn's article "The Hideous Trade" about the Arab slave trade, which was far more ruthless and genocidal in its effects -- for the Arabs liked particularly to seize young boys, who were castrated on the spot, and if they survived the initial primitive surgery, were forced to endure a long trip overland through the bush to arrive either by land or by dhow in one of the Muslim slave entrepots, Cairo or Jeddah or Muscat, Damascus or Baghdad or Constantinople or Algiers, or even distant Smyrna. Hogedoorn offers a complicated economic analysis of why the castration was done on the spot, which caused so many, on their subsequent forced march, to die. He estimates that only 10% of those castrated survived the trip in coffle or caravan to be sold in the Arab and Muslim slave-markets.

And while we are at it, let us remind ourselves that slavery was never really abolished, except in theory, in many Arab states. Tens of thousands of blacks still are enslaved in the Sudan, in Mali, in Mauritania -- and their masters are exclusively Muslim and Arab.

Though slavery was officially abolished in Saudi Arabia, out of a desire to placate those pesky Infidels (before OPEC gave the Saudis the power to ignore them) in 1962, it continues still. This can be deduced from certain advertisements in the Saudi press (a kind of Saudi version of the Yankee Swap; a ?young girl" will be traded for a "late-model American used car." What would a Yard Sale of cast-off slave girls look like?).

There never was a Muslim William Wilberforce. Slavery is in the Qur'an, and Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia have expressly reasserted that slavery is right and just. They argue that it cannot be ended because it is part of the practice of Muhammad and His Companions, whose sayings, acts, and attitudes give Muslim believers the Sunna -- not merely a secondary source of Islamic doctrine, but one for many at least as important as the Qur'an.

Oh, one could go on all day about what Islam has done to Africa. But don't ask me. Ask a black, non-Muslim African -- one who has some direct experience, possibly by living in an Arab country, of what Islam is all about and what it has done to black Africa. You might find someone who remembers the slave-trade conducted from Zanzibar and Pemba, now part of Tanzania, where the Arab Muslims are again displaying their wonted master-race attitudes.

The Sudan was scarcely 10% Arab in 1900. Now it is at least 50%. How do you think this happened? Did the Dinka, did the Nuer, cease to have children? How did this demographic change take place? In West Africa, aside from the Sokoto Jihad, what caused Islam to expand at the expense of Christians?

What caused a frightened Nigerian female journalist to suddenly leave her country a year or two ago, when during the Miss World brouhaha (Muslim protests, which caused the event to be moved) she mentioned Muhammad's appreciation for pulchritude, and received for her admittedly silly sally death threats in return?

Why did it take the French to finally end the slave trade in North Africa? And why was it -- see J. B. Kelly, Britain and the Persian Gulf, 1795-1880 -- that only the British, using naval power (and staying carefully away from the interior of Arabia) managed to suppress the slave trade in East Africa, because not a single Muslim Arab had the slightest moral qualms about it -- nor does today? If it was good enough for Muhammad, if it is in the Qur'an, well then who is to object to slavery?

There is much more one could write. One could go on, and on. But this is more than enough to provide a little grist for a little mill, one that grinds exceeding slow -- but it does grind.

Abu Hamza 'urged followers to bleed enemy'

· Jury sees video in which England is called a toilet
· Cleric claims every court and brothel is a target

Duncan Campbell
For the full article go to The Guardian

The Islamic cleric charged with soliciting murder and incitement to racial hatred told his followers that they had to train in order to "bleed the enemy", an Old Bailey jury heard yesterday. In videos shown to the court, he also described England as a "toilet" and suggested the Christian church was riddled with homosexuality, iniquity and black magic.

Sheikh Abu Hamza, the former cleric at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, is pleading not guilty to nine charges of soliciting murder, four charges of inciting racial hatred and one of owning a document useful to a person committing or preparing acts of terrorism. He is pleading not guilty to all charges.

Yesterday the jury was shown two videos of Abu Hamza addressing an audience in the late 1990s.

"The first thing to do is be trained ... Every court is a target, ... You have to bleed the enemy whether you work alone or work with a group or you work with your family. Work has to be done. Then after you have done that, obviously you will be on the run."

On "bleeding the enemy," he told his audience: "Like you imagine you have only one small knife and you have a big animal in front of you, the size of the knife you can't slaughter him with this. You have to stab him here and there until he bleeds to death, until he dies ... This is the first needle, this is what the brothers in Algeria now are doing, they are bleeding them. This is the first stage of the jihad."

The trial continues.

An article entitled "New sanctions concerning the illegal exercise of religious worship ? Evangelicals under high surveillance", was published on 14 March in the French language Algerian newspaper 'Actualite' (Link 1)

In this article, writer Hamid Saidani laments, "The form chosen for the promulgation of this law closes the door to any debate on this subject which is extremely sensitive because it touches on a principle established by the fundamental law of the land, which is the freedom of worship and of conscience. The content of this legislative framework would certainly have been greatly benefited if the discussion had been allowed."

Saidani reports that the order, classified as No 06-03 and dated 28 February 2006, puts forward a number of arguments which call for the strengthening of the law regarding religious activities that could be considered as "missions of proselytising". According to Saidani the penal aspects of the text are, between a 2 and 5 year prison term and a fine of 50 to 100 million centimes (this amounts to approx. US$7,000 to US$14,000 (1 Algerian dinar = 100 centimes)) for anyone who "incites, constrains or uses seductive means seeking to convert a Muslim to another religion (...), or who produces, stores or distributes printed documents or audio-visual formats or any other format or means which seeks to shake the faith of a Muslim."

Saidani concludes: "It is certain that this legislation seeks to block proselytizing missions and missionaries led notably by American evangelical churches in certain regions of the country, however it remains vital that the texts be clear and explicit, and this so that the way will not be opened for the violation of individual and collective liberties established by the laws of the Republic which would be swallowed up by a revival of the demons of inquisition."

Arabic News reports that the new law "is an attempt to withstand the Christianizing campaign which had witnessed a notable activity recently especially in al-Qabayel area east of the country." (Link 2)

Arabic News also adds, "The law also bans practicing any religion 'except Islam' 'outside buildings allocated for that, and links specialized buildings aimed at practice of religion by a prior licensing.'

"One official at the ministry of religious affairs said that the aim of the law is basically to 'ban religious activity, and secret religious campaigns.'

"The Christian community constitutes the largest religious minority in the country. This community accounts for the time being to less than 11,000 after it was hundreds of thousands before Algeria's independence in 1962 including 110 priests and 170 monks distributed all over Algerian lands."

President Bouteflika's aggressive move against "missions of proselytising" is very surprising considering that as recently as December 2005 Algeria's Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdellah Ghamallah, told Al-Khabar newspaper that reports of increasing proselytisation of Algeria's Muslims were groundless. (Link 3)

AMNESTY COMES INTO EFFECT: ISLAMISTS RELEASED

In September 2005 Algerians voted overwhelmingly, through a referendum, to grant amnesty to Islamist fighters imprisoned during Algeria's civil conflict, in exchange for peace. The amnesty, part of President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, was approved by the government in February 2006, and the first wave of the 2,629 prisoners began to be released on 4 March. According to Cherif Quazani, some 10,000 condemned Islamists will eventually be released. Quazani writes (12 March) that it is inevitable that such a release of 10,000 prisoners who are "Islamists by nature" is cause for some apprehension. Quazani comments that no one can be sure that any of these Islamists have repented. He believes they view their release as a victory, adding that they left prison shouting "Allahou Akbar". (Link 4)

Critics fear that President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation seeks to whitewash years of suffering and that releasing Islamic extremists and allowing them home from exile could plant the seeds for future violence. As noted in a WEA RL Prayer bulletin of Sept 2005, genuine long-lasting peace will require a comprehensive restorative justice program as distinct from punitive or retributive justice. This would require the government follow up the amnesty with a truth commission that involves jihadists and security forces, and a comprehensive national
reconciliation program. Without these any peace will only be temporary as the sores will simply fester.

But of course the issue is even bigger even than this. In December 1991 Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) surged towards power heading for an absolute majority through democratic elections only to be stopped in its tracks by the military. The second round of voting was canceled and when the FIS was declared illegal January 1992 its partisans fled en masse to the mountains. The most radical element then began its activities as the GIA (Groupes armes islamiques, Armed Islamic Groups) and the more moderate element acted under the name MAI (Mouvement arme islamique, Armed Islamic Movement). What followed was a decade of civil conflict and horrific Islamic terrorism costing more than 150,000 lives.

However, Algeria's imprisoned Islamists would no doubt have been watching democracy in action in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories and feeling quite encouraged. Regional politics has changed a lot since 1991.

It is one thing to surrender weapons and renounce violence, but quite another to surrender aims and renounce ideology. With democracy proving so effective at empowering and legitimising Islamists, even militant Islamists, maybe renouncing violence is not such a compromise. It may after all only prove to be a change of strategy, not a change of direction ? Islamists simply need ride a different vehicle to power.

GRASSROOTS: ISLAMISTS MOVING TO CONTROL MOSQUES

Hassan Moali wrote an article (20 February) entitled, "Islamist parties want to take hold of the mosques ? The aggressions against Imams multiply", in which he alleges that Islamists are intimidating the imams not associated with their cause, infiltrating the religious associations of the mosques, and issuing threats by anonymous letters and even physical aggressions. (Link 5)

Hassan Moali claims that 20 percent of Algeria's 15,000 mosques are subject to threats and aggression from what he calls "the apostles of 'la religion partisane'". According to Moali, Islamists murdered at least ten imams in 2005, and that some were killed in their mosques in front of their congregations. Moali also asserts that courageous imams who refuse to preach the Islamist message are made the objects of devastating smear campaigns.

Moali notes that on average fourteen million Algerians would attend Friday prayer. And knowing the important role of the imam, it is easy to imagine what an appetite Islamist parties would have to control such a powerful reserve of political militant potential.

Hassan Moali names The Movement of Society for Peace (MSP: formerly Hamas) as being in the forefront of this conspiracy, adding that MSP president Bouguerra Soltani recently affirmed that his party aims to seize power in 2012.

"POLITICAL REHABILITATION"

President Bouteflika's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation provides for the "banning of all exercise of political activity, whatever form it may take, by those responsible for the exploitation of our religion." This provision basically bans political activity by those who have committed terrorist acts. (Link 6)

Regardless of this, some very senior militant Islamists are seeking "political rehabilitation". Ali Benhadj, deputy leader of the FIS is one (Link 7), and Abdelhak Layada, one of the founding leaders of Algeria's Islamic Armed Group (GIA), is another. (Link 8)

The GIA has sought not only to create an Islamist state but to rid Algeria of Jews and Christians. According to the Terrorism Knowledge Database http://www.tkb.org/ ten percent of all GIA attacks have been directed at religious targets. On 23 October 1994 GIA shot dead two Spanish nuns leaving a chapel in Algiers. In December 1994 GIA militants killed four Catholic priests of the Order of White Fathers, in a machine-gun attack at their mission in Tizi-Ouzou. GIA then faxed news organisations claiming that the killings were part of their campaign of "annihilation and physical liquidation of Christian crusaders".

On 3 September 1995 GIA killed two more nuns in Algiers. Then on 10 November 1995 GIA shot two French nuns (one fatally) of the Little Sisters Sacred Heart as they left their home in the Kouba district of Algiers. In May 1996 GIA claimed responsibility for the kidnap, murder and beheading of seven French Trappist monks from a monastery in Medea. On 1 August 1996 a GIA bomb exploded in the home of the French bishop in Oran, killing him and his driver. The Bishop had just returned from a ceremony commemorating the deaths of the seven monks a year earlier.

Abdelhak Layada was released from his prison cell on Monday 13 March. He commented on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's Charter to Asharq Alawsat newspaper saying, "It is a significant positive step towards achieving peace but it is incomplete because it closes the door of political participation in front of us." Layada indicated he would consider returning to politics in the future. He expressed his belief that the GIA and the FIS are the key to resolving Algeria's conflict.

In the meantime, Layada has said he will co-operate with the government to achieve peace. He is offering to mediate between the government and the militants still at large. A questions opens up before us though, particularly in the light of the government's about face concerning "missions of proselytism", and the new measures against them. To what extent has the amnesty been a quid pro quo deal ? is the government going to have to co-operate with Islamist? Or maybe there has not been any quid pro quo deal ? perhaps President Bouteflika knowing the nature of the Islamists he is releasing is just removing a 'provocation'. Whatever the reason for these new measures, the Church in Algeria is about to face a whole new level of persecution.

Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au

Links

1) Les nouvelles sanctions concernant l'exercice illegal du culte: Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance. By Hamid Saidani, Liberte 14 March 2006

The text is no longer available at: http://www.liberte-algerie.com/
but it can be found at: http://www.africatime.com/algerie/nouvelle.asp?no_nouvelle=244719&no_categorie=2 for a very rough English translation just put the article title, "Les evangelistes sous haute surveillance" into a Google search. (Kabyle.com has the best translation) Do likewise with other French articles amongst these links.

2) Algeria bans Muslims from learning about Christianity
Algeria, Politics, 3/21/2006
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060321/2006032108.html

3) Algeria Downplays Proselytization Reports
CAIRO, December 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-12/25/article06.shtml

4) Qui a peur des amnisties ? ALGERIE
12 mars 2006 - par CHERIF OUAZANI http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN12036quiapsitsin0

5) Algerie: les partis islamistes veulent s'emparer des mosquees
Les agressions contre les Imams se multiplient. lundi 20 fevrier 2006
http://www.afrik.com/article9488.html

6) Bouteflika unveils new reconciliation plan. 15 August 2005
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/algeria/?id=14284

7) Algerie: les islamistes liberes vont-ils etre politiquement rehabilites?
Ali Benhadj, ex numero deux du Fis, le voudrait bien
jeudi 16 mars 2006, par notre partenaire El Watan
http://www.afrik.com/article9608.html <!--[endif]-->

8) Former Algerian militant leader will cooperate with government to achieve peace
By Boulame Ghamrassha 16 March 2006
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=4156

WorldNetDaily.com  [Go To Full Story]


(03/30/06) ? As attention focused on an Afghan Christian convert who faced the death penalty for his conversion, Algeria quietly passed a law that punishes anyone who persuades a Muslim to leave his faith, with up to five years in prison, and banishes house churches.

The government said the law's purpose is to prohibit "clandestine organizations" it claims are secretly trying to convert Muslims, according to London-based Alarab Online.

But the news agency said the cabinet is attempting to win over Muslim radicals ahead of a general election next year.

?

Christians in Algeria ? who affirm the new law is the result of increasing influence of radical Islamists in the North African nation ? say that to this point, the government has been relatively tolerant of Christianity.

According to the most recent U.S. State Department religious freedom report, published last year, the Algerian constitution declared Islam as the only state-sanctioned religion, and laws limited the practice of other faiths, including prohibiting public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam.

"However, the government follows a de facto policy of tolerance by allowing registered, non-Muslim faiths, in limited instances, to conduct public religious services," the 2005 report said.

The State Department said "non-Islamic proselytizing" was a deportable offense for foreigners, and the importation of religious texts faced lengthy delays for government approval.

According to the new law, passed March 21, the penalty is imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of up to about $12,000 for whomever "incites, constrains or utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another religion, or by using to this end establishments for teaching, for education, for health, of a social or cultural nature, or training institutions, or any other establishment, or any financial means, makes, stores, or distributes printed documents or audiovisual productions or by any other aid or means, which has as its goal to shake the faith of a Muslim."

In addition, the Algerian government now will regulate all places where Christians can worship, with the officially-Muslim government having to explicitly approve any new Christian church.

House churches are explicitly banned.

The law says, "Collective exercise of religious worship takes place exclusively in structures intended for this purpose, open to the public and identifiable from the exterior."

The new legislation also provides for the possible imprisonment and expulsion of foreign Christians for the same "offenses."?

NY Times

Many Algerians Are Not Reconciled by Amnesty Law

By CRAIG S. SMITH

ALGIERS ? In the 1990's, Algeria was the Iraq of the Arab world, ripping out its own heart in a bloodbath that pitted a rising Islamist movement against military death squads, killing more than 100,000 people. It was a model of hell on earth.

More recently the country has offered itself as a very different kind of model, one of reconciliation after civil war. American officials have said that as Iraqis fashion their own national reconciliation effort, Algeria is worthy of close study.

But interviews with dozens of people affected by Algeria's approach suggest that its amnesty program is less a model than a cautionary tale. Few are happy, and the fighting is not over. Dozens of people are dying monthly, according to journalists here who follow the killing.

"We've reached a dangerous point when the criminals are out of prison and the people who don't agree with it are arrested," said Cherifa Kheddar, whose brother and sister were killed by Islamic extremists in 1996.

The Algerian approach is this: a national reconciliation law, approved by referendum in September and promulgated in March, set thousands of convicted Islamist fighters free while ordering silence from their victims. The law shelters government death squads from prosecution.

It provides money to some Islamist fighters to help them start new lives and even seeks to expunge the word terrorist from the national discourse. The people who cut throats and those whose throats were cut are now referred to as "victims of the national tragedy."

[To date, according to a government report issued on June 27, 40,000 people ? 2,200 former Islamist fighters and 37,800 others ? have applied for amnesty or compensation under the program, Reuters reported.]

It was a faster, more sweeping solution than the cathartic "truth and reconciliation commissions" that have operated in South Africa and elsewhere, creating a public forum in which victims could tell their stories and others could confess their crimes in return for amnesty.

But here in Algeria, people like Ms. Kheddar are frustrated and angry that the killers will never be judged.

"Our position has always been that justice must work first and that those found guilty can be pardoned later on," Ms. Kheddar said. "But the national reconciliation gives impunity even to those people who have killed hundreds of times."

Former Islamic fighters are equally dissatisfied with the law.

Abdelhak Layada, the founder of the Armed Islamic Group, which attacked foreigners, took its terror campaign to Europe and was blamed for the worst of the period's atrocities, warned that without "true reconciliation," the tensions that led to the violence would build once again.

"The wounds won't really be healed without a real political settlement," Mr. Layada said in the sitting room of his concrete house in a region south of Algiers once called the "triangle of death" because of massacres there. The door to the house is pierced with bullets from an army assault in 1992 shortly after the formation of the Armed Islamic Group, known by its initials in French, G.I.A. Though condemned to death, he was released from prison in March as part of the reconciliation program.

Mr. Layada declines to talk in detail about his fighting days, hinting that he has secrets to tell but that his freedom is too fresh to risk. He said he regretted the killing of innocent civilians, including the beheading of seven Trappist monks who were abducted in a bid to win his freedom. He said he had no control over how the movement evolved after his imprisonment in 1993.

"When I was in the G.I.A., it was one organization," he said. "After I went to prison, there were many G.I.A.'s."

But he says the country still yearns for an Islamic state, despite enduring years of horrifying violence. "Let us organize our political party and we'll see how strong it is," he said, lounging in his sitting room, dressed in a pale green robe.

Mr. Layada, who has short black hair, a black goatee and wire-rimmed glasses with tortoise shell stems, warned that unless the state satisfied the people's desire for a government based on Islamic law, "it will push them to rise up."

He said the government was fooling itself and the people to pretend that the violence had ended. He referred to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which split from his organization, rejected the government's national reconciliation plan and has remained active with hundreds of followers. Its leaders, Hassan Hattab and Moktar ben Moktar, were once fighters under Mr. Layada's command.

"Ask the authorities if they can stop them," he said with a broad smile. "When you leave a small fire burning, it can spread."

Mr. Layada is not alone in his pessimistic assessment of the attempted reconciliation.

"They haven't solved the root of the problem," said Ali Benhadjar, who won a parliamentary seat in 1991 as an Islamist candidate and took up arms when a military-led government nullified election results to avert an Islamist victory.

"They are just giving people money and telling them to be quiet." Mr. Benhadjar said. This is not a solution."

Mr. Benhadjar led another splinter group, the League for Dawa and Jihad. He claims responsibility for killing the leader of the Armed Islamic Group, Djamel Zitouni, under whose rule that group's worst atrocities were committed, including the beheading of the monks.

"I sent my men to kill him and they did," Mr. Benhadjar said proudly, standing in his cramped herbal medicine shop in the mountain town of Médéa south of Algiers.

He argued that the reconciliation law was meant more for the government security services, who participated in many killings, than it was for Islamist fighters. The law prohibits people from pursuing claims against the state. "This reconciliation is serving the regime," he said.

He warned that unless the government allowed the Islamists to work for the Islamic state that they dream of, the violence would return.

"The law in the Western world was made by human beings, but Islamic law is coming from God," Mr. Benhadjar said, stroking his long russet beard. He said Algeria and other Arab states "have strayed from the law of Islam, and so sooner or later there will be a clash between these governments and the people."

But for much of the population traumatized by the violence, the law is a kind of betrayal of the innocent people who died.

"We don't have the right to talk about these things anymore," said a woman in a bookshop on Didouche Mourad Street in downtown Algiers, referring to a black-and-white photograph of her friend Joachim Grau, a Portuguese man who once owned the shop and was gunned down in 1994. "They want people to forget."

At Notre Dame d'Afrique, a Roman Catholic basilica outside town, the police recently forced nuns to remove portraits of the seven monks beheaded in the failed bid to free Mr. Layada, because the display breached the reconciliation law.

Ms. Kheddar, who watched Islamists drag her brother and sister off to brutal deaths, spends every Sunday with other survivors of the violence in front of the governmental palace, displaying photos of women who were killed and demanding justice.  For the full article?

For the full article go to the New York Times

Christian Shepherd Shines His Light in Islamic Pasture

By CRAIG S. SMITH

HENRI TESSIER is a quiet man, a serious man, a man who exudes a certain air of disappointment at the end of a long career. He is two years past retirement, waiting patiently for Rome to name his replacement as the archbishop of Algeria where he has been witness to what he says is the slow ?death of a church.?

In the archdiocese?s offices off a narrow street here ? a few doors down from the old St. Charles Church, which is now St. Charles Mosque ? Archbishop Tessier, 77, reflected on the ebbing of Christianity from North Africa?s shores as Islam spreads across Europe.

Algeria, Roman Catholics here are quick to point out, is where St. Augustine was born and died. (A bone from his right forearm is displayed at a basilica in the northeastern town of Annaba.) By the fifth century, 700 bishops were scattered across North Africa.

But the church withered 300 years later as Islam swept west across the continent and leapt the Mediterranean to Spain. It did not return with any force until the colonial conquests of the 19th century.

Within months of Algeria?s independence from France in 1962, 900,000 Christians had fled to Europe?s shores. Most of those who remained left after the government nationalized land and businesses in 1964, and all but a few thousand of the rest were forced out when Islamic radicals started killing foreigners in the 1990?s. Nineteen Catholic clergy members were killed, including seven Trappist monks. Only their heads have been found.

There are only about 20 churches left in Algeria, and they are mostly empty. The rest have been converted into mosques or cultural centers or have been abandoned. All of the church?s schools and hospitals were nationalized in the 1970?s. Recently, the church?s activities have been further circumscribed by a new law against proselytizing that leaves many of the church?s charitable activities vulnerable to politically motivated interpretation.

BUT the archbishop is not a man to show despair. He maintains that the Roman Catholic clergy has a role to play in Algeria and elsewhere in the Muslim world even if there is no indigenous church left to maintain. Most of the Catholics in the country today are temporary residents from sub-Saharan Africa.

On one recent day, he was listening to a group of African students who had been expelled from their university for organizing a Catholic association on campus. He helped get them reinstated.

After independence, some of the country?s Muslims were glad the church was there, he said, because they wanted to show to the world that Algeria was open and tolerant. But there were others who saw the church as a threat and wanted it to leave.

Like many observers of the Muslim world, Archbishop Tessier, who is fluent in Arabic, blames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for fueling anti-Western sentiment and propelling the rise of a radical, political Islam.

He said he believed that the Iraq war had only accelerated that trend. He also said conservative Islam?s anti-Western shift was linked to the failure of Arab governments to properly develop their economies.

?If the Arabs had known the same rhythm of development as the Asian dragons, we wouldn?t have this extremism,? he said.

In Algeria, he said, the trend was exacerbated by the failure of socialist policies, which were followed at the encouragement of the cold-war patrons who had backed Algeria during its war of independence.

?The people were disappointed by the West during the war and then they were disappointed by the East during the socialist period, so they turned toward the Islam,? he said.

Since then, he said, Algerian society has shifted from the French language and European culture toward Arabic and the culture of the Middle East. ?There?s been a progressive loss of contact with the West,? he said.

When satellite dishes first appeared, he said, for example, they were predominantly positioned to receive French broadcasts. Now, he said, the majority are pointed toward the Persian Gulf.

?If you watch Western television, you live in one universe, and if you watch Middle Eastern television, you live in another altogether,? he said, adding that he thought Middle Eastern broadcasts tended to denigrate the West.

He said another big influence in Algeria came from audiocassettes made by fundamentalist imams in Egypt and the Persian Gulf. ?People see the West through the tension of the Middle East,? he said.

The archbishop travels outside Algiers, the capital, to offer Masses for small groups of Catholics in smaller towns, and he is a frequent guest of the Algiers diplomatic corps as well as various Algerian groups. It is not a solitary life, but his circle has narrowed over time. His sister and her family, the last of his family to remain in Algeria, left the country in 1972. His closest friends are now fellow priests committed to the country.

DESPITE a decade of bloody violence, the conservative Islamist trend has continued to grow. Earlier this year, Algerian television began interrupting programming five times a day for the call to prayer. ?Numerically, they are winning,? he said.

 ?The fundamentalist Muslims who want a return to the Islamic law of the Middle Ages are not interested in meeting us,? he said.

Still, he said, he believed the church had won a measure of respect from Algerians for refusing to abandon the country. ?With all of these problems, the church is a sign and an instrument,? he said.

For the full article go to: BBC News

August 28 2006

A six-month amnesty offered by Algeria to Islamic militants on condition of surrender expires on Monday.

There have been calls for an extension since fewer than 300 have come forward.

Militants have been promised immunity from prosecution provided they have not been involved in serious crimes such as massacres, rapes and bombings.

A decision on an extension rests with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is expected to rule after studying a report on the outcome of the offer.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem from the National Liberation Front, the main party in the governing coalition, says militants should be given more time.

But an Islamist group in the coalition, the Movement of a Peaceful Society (MSP), said it was important to respect deadlines laid down in the charter.

Charter

The amnesty was among the measures set down in a peace and reconciliation charter approved in a national referendum last September, as part of efforts to end almost 15 years of political violence in Algeria.

It came into effect in February after being approved in a referendum last year, and allowed the release of suspected militants from jail as well as amnesty for those at large who surrendered.

The amnesty has been criticized in some quarters for granting the military immunity from prosecution.

The amnesty is the second since President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took office seven years ago.

He says it will help heal Algeria's wounds after years of a brutal and bloody conflict.

The conflict erupted in 1992 after the authorities annulled a general election.

For the full article go to Reuters 

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS - An influential Islamist leader urged the Algerian government on Tuesday to lift a 14-year-old ban on the main radical Islamist party to shut "the doors of violence" and definitively end a lingering armed revolt.

Madani Mezrag, former chief of the armed wing of the now-defunct Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), told reporters the country would only know stability if a partial six-month amnesty that ended on Monday was extended and expanded.

An Islamist uprising was triggered in 1992 when the army, fearing an Iranian-style revolution, scrapped legislative polls the FIS party was poised to win. It banned the FIS and imposed a state of emergency, measures which are still in effect.

Tens of thousands of Algerians answered a call for a holy war to overthrow the state. Up to 200,000 people were killed.

To end the conflict, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika offered a six-month partial amnesty to the several hundred rebels still fighting the army in exchange for laying down their arms.

"NOT FAIR"

The amnesty, part of a reconciliation charter that took effect on February 28 and expired on Monday, did not apply to rebels who massacred, raped or set off bombs in public places.

Mezrag said the state should not only extend the amnesty but widen it to grant blanket forgiveness to anyone who took part in the revolt, be they now in prison, in exile or still fighting.

"We are against setting a limit of time to the amnesty plan. I don't understand why we should close the doors of dialogue and just keep the doors of violence open," he said.

"The origin of the crisis is that the army cancelled the legislative elections and afterwards we were shown as killers while those who cancelled the elections have not been accused of anything. This is not fair," Mezrag said.

The government says between 250 and 300 fighters have given themselves up during the amnesty, leaving several hundred more still at large. Also, as part of the reconciliation process, more than 2,200 former fighters have been freed from prison.

Officials have hinted the amnesty may be extended, saying Bouteflika will decide on the matter in coming days.

Mezrag accused civil servants being reluctant to administer the national reconciliation process, which includes helping former fighters obtain work and reintegrate into society.

He said word of the failings had reached fighters in the mountains and made them reluctant to give up their weapons.

For the full article go to:  The Christian Science Monitor

It was a quiet Ramadan evening, the sunset casting a red glow on the white colonial facades along the city's seafront. With the call of the muezzin, the Muslim prayer crier, Algerians had returned home to break the fast with friends and family, leaving the city nearly deserted.

During this holy month of Ramadan, the quiet has become reassuring. Many here are anxious; the Islamist radicals of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, better known by the French acronym GSPC, have threatened attacks in the capital during Ramadan.

Already, officials blame the group for violence outside of Algiers. Overnight Friday, in separate incidents, two security officers were killed near a mosque and a bomb derailed a train, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities have amassed some 3,000 police around the city. While the radical Salafist group has been active for years, officials have new cause to take greater precaution to its threats.

In a videotape released by Al Qaeda Sept. 11, 2006, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that "the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has joined the Al Qaeda organization ... may this be a bone in the throat of American and French crusaders, and their allies, and sow fear in the hearts of French traitors and sons of apostates."

Born out of Algeria's civil war, which began in 1992 when the army overturned an Islamist electoral victory, the GSPC has long expressed a willingness to join Mr. bin Laden. But not until now has Al Qaeda officially acknowledged a merger. Indeed, this alliance underlines the regional, rather than Algerian, focus of GSPC.

It also underscores concerns spelled out in the National Intelligence Estimate, parts of which were recently declassified, that said "several North African groups, unless countered, are likely to expand their reach and become more capable of multiple and/or mass-casualty attacks outside their traditional areas of operation."

For years, the GSPC has been moving units into the areas of the Sahara, away from the military pressure brought to bear in Algeria's north. A GSPC faction was involved in the desert kidnapping of 32 European tourists in 2003, and in 2005 the group overran a Mauritanian military base. GSPC activity has also been reported in Mali and Niger, and support cells have popped up in surrounding Muslim countries and Europe.

According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the French Antiterrorist Coordination Unit (UCLAT) estimates that tens of indigenous Islamist cells have contacts with the GSPC, and, adding to their concern, Zawahiri exhorted the Algerians to strike at France in his Sept. 11 tape.

Monday, Italian police reported that they had broken up an Algerian cell that "financed and gave logistical support to Islamic terrorism responsible for massacres in Algeria," Reuters reported.

This internationalization, and the GSPC's attempts to rally militants in surrounding countries, has long worried the US. In 2002, the Pentagon announced the Pan-Sahel Initiative, assigning US military advisers to train and equip the militaries of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad. Also involved are Algeria and Morocco, though both governments deny reports of US forces stationed within their countries.

Reuters

Dec 11

ALGIERS - A militant Islamist group linked to al Qaeda on Monday claimed responsibility for the weekend bombing of a bus carrying foreign oil workers near Algiers, and warned of further attacks.

The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) claim came after the United States urged its citizens in Algeria to review their personal safety following Sunday's attack, the first on Westerners in the North African country in many years.

"We reiterate our call to all Muslims in Algeria to keep away from the interests of the infidels to avoid harm ... once (these interests or individuals) are targeted," GSPC said in statement posted on the Internet.

The authenticity of the statement, posted on a Web site used by Islamist militant groups on Monday, could not be verified.

The attack in the upmarket Bouchaoui district, 10 km (six miles) west of Algiers, killed the Algerian driver and wounded nine people, including four Britons and an American. Many Algerians and foreigners were alarmed that militants had managed to infiltrate one of the country's most secure areas.

A Warden Notice for the estimated 800 U.S. expatriates said the U.S. embassy in the oil- and gas-exporting Arab country would be open for normal business "but is encouraging Americans in Algiers to review their security situation.

"The Embassy will limit movements on December 11 to official business only while evaluating the situation."

An existing U.S. travel warning says there is a significant security risk in many areas of Algeria, Africa's second largest country which is slowly pulling itself out of 14 years of conflict between Islamist rebels and government forces.

Executives of Western oil companies said they were tightening security, but declined to give details.

TIES TO AL QAEDA

GSPC, which has ties with al Qaeda, urged Muslims to stay away from Western interests in Algeria. In 2004, GSPC declared war on foreign people and companies.

"We bring tidings to the crusaders and apostates that they will face what they dislike," it said in the statement.

Islamists began an armed revolt in 1992 after the then military-backed authorities scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party, the Islamic Salvation Front, was set to win.

Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed. The violence has sharply subsided in the past few years.

Reuters

Jan 8

DUBAI (Reuters) - The leader of an al Qaeda-linked Algerian militant group called in a Web video posted on Monday for attacks against the French and their government allies in the North African country.

Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), said the group was awaiting instructions from Osama bin Laden after acquiring weapons and ammunition.

"To Algerians I say ... the French and the allies of Crusaders who occupy our land (Islamic countries) are within your reach and so are the throats of those who sold the blood of martyrs," he said in reference to a rebellion that ousted French troops from Algeria five decades ago.

"We are impatiently awaiting your (bin Laden) instructions and recommendations for the coming period," Abdul-Wadud said. "Recently God bestowed on us weapons and ammunition."

He did not say how the group acquired the weapons but said it had not received arms from abroad for a long time.

In December, the militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for bombing a bus carrying foreign oil workers near Algiers in which an Algerian was killed and nine people including four Britons and an American were wounded.

The GSPC claim in December came after the United States urged its citizens in Algeria to review their personal safety following the attack, the first on Westerners in many years.

In the video posted on a Web site used by militant groups including al Qaeda, Abdul-Wadud appeared wearing a field jacket and with an AK-47 assault rifle by his side against a dark green cloth.

He described Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as a "house thief" who is allowing foreign "infidel" companies to loot the country's oil wealth.

"Oh Bouteflika, his agent generals and crusaders' masters be aware we are coming for you with God's will and power," he said. "We love to die as much as they love drinking."

Abdul-Wadud said efforts by Bouteflika to strike a deal with Islamists had faltered because he was not sincere.

An Algerian insurgency began in 1992 after the authorities canceled elections an Islamist party was expected to win and it has long been in decline following a series of amnesties.

February 8 2007 Financial Times -  An Algerian group that has started to call itself al-Qaeda in the Maghreb has been running training camps for Islamic militants from other North African countries, according to an official with the United States European command.

?They have been doing a lot of training: sort of here today gone tomorrow training in the wadis of northern Mali,? said the official. ?We are not talking about fixed training sites like we had in Afghanistan. These are meetings of trucks and tents for three days to a week, then they disperse.?

The Algerians had trained recruits from Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Morocco, who were then sent back to carry out operations in their home countries, he said.

Until a few weeks ago when it changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, the Algerian group was known as the GSPC, a French acronym for the Salafi Group for Predication and Combat.

Thought to operate with a few hundred men mainly in eastern Algeria and parts of the vast Algerian Sahara, it is the only significant militant group still fighting the authorities.

The GSPC was established in the 1990s at the height of the armed insurgency sparked off by the Algerian army?s annulment of elections in 1992 to prevent an Islamist win. Experts say it is now much weakened but still able to strike.

The group carried out a rocket attack against an Algerian army post last month, killing five soldiers. Ten militants were reported killed when the military counter-attacked.

It was also behind an attack in December near Algiers against a bus carrying employees of an affiliate of Halliburton, the US energy giant. The driver was killed and several passengers wounded.

But the US official said the GSPC?s attempt to affiliate itself with al-Qaeda was not necessarily an indication of strength. ?The Algerians have been successful at combating the GSPC,? he said, ?which is one reason it operates in northern Mali.?

He believes the group ?reached out to the larger jihad, probably I would suspect more out of drowning man syndrome ? to stay afloat.?

Experts say the GSPC is unlikely to be taking orders from Osama bin Laden. ?There is an appropriation of the brand of al-Qaeda, thinking it might benefit them,? said Gavin Proudly of Quest, a London-based business consultancy. The GSPC was not taking instructions from al-Qaeda, ?but this is irrelevant, since they know its goals?.

But the US official said the growing co-operation between the North Africa groups was worrying. ?It?s that training, that mobility, that cross-border movement that gives us concern.?

Last month, the Tunisian authorities announced that they had pre-empted attacks against foreign embassies by a local group which included a Mauritanian national and five Tunisians who had come across the border from Algeria.

02/14/2007 Weekly Standard - WHILE SOMALIA HAS been grabbing all the headlines, it isn't the only area of Africa that has seen a recent surge in terror activity among al Qaeda linked groups. Jihadists have been making advances in the Maghreb--that part of North Africa composed of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia--as well. While Algeria and, more recently, Morocco have been pinpointed as potential terrorist hotbeds, Tunisia was, for a long time, relatively quiet. But on December 23, 2006, and then again on January 3, 2007, Salafi terrorists armed with RPGs engaged hundreds of Tunisian police, army, and secret service in battles which saw anywhere from 12 terrorists and two security forces-official tally--to at least 60 killed according to the French daily Le Parisien. And so, Tunisia has woken up to a grim new reality. Al Qaeda is infiltrating the traditionally quiet and safe European vacation spot.

The surge of activity wasn't entirely out of the blue. As early as January 2006, a loose organization called "Al Qaeda in the Maghreb" had taken shape, formed from a coalition of the Algerian GSPC, the Moroccan GICM (responsible for the Casablanca and Madrid bombings in 2003 and 2004 respectively), and other Tunisian elements.

Still, it's interesting to note that it took Tunisia and its government controlled media 18 days to acknowledge the terrorist nature of the incidents--that this was not a group of "drug traffickers" or then "dangerous criminals" as initial reports suggested but "salafi terrorists" who intended to target foreign embassies and dignitaries.

GSPC, which officially merged with al Qaeda over the summer--underlined by al Qaeda's Ayman Al Zawahiri in a September 11, 2006 video--and changed its name a few weeks ago to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is clearly the dominant terrorist group in the Maghreb and the countries of the Sahel. The organization's aim is to make the Maghreb a springboard to Europe with the help of the Algerian Islamist Khalid Abou Bassir, believed to be one of al Qaeda leaders in Europe. This was confirmed last year when Belgian police arrested a Moroccan Islamist named Mohamed Reha, who told police that "not only were we preparing jihad operations in Morocco, but we were working to expand our jihadist movement to all the countries of the Maghreb with the help of our Algerian brothers from the GSPC."

Also deeply troubling are reports that this new terror group has been recruiting scores of Moroccan, Tunisian, and Algerian "volunteers" to join the forces of al Qaeda in Iraq. In light of all this, it's important that Washington doesn't overlook the importance of the Maghreb--which incidentally means the West in Arabic--in the wider war on terror.

February 20, 2007 International Herald Tribune TUNIS: The plan, hatched for months in the arid mountains of North Africa, was to attack the American and British embassies here. It ended in a series of gun battles in January that killed a dozen militants and left two Tunisian security officers dead.

But the most disturbing aspect of the violence in this normally placid, tourist-friendly country is that it came from across the border in Algeria, where an Islamic terrorist organization has vowed to unite radical Islamic groups across North Africa.

Counterterrorism officials on three continents say the trouble in Tunisia is the latest evidence that a brutal Algerian group with a long history of violence is acting on its promise to organize extremists across North Africa and join the remnants of Al Qaeda to become a new international force for jihad. [This week, the group claimed responsibility for seven nearly simultaneous bombings that destroyed police stations in towns east of the Algerian capital, Algiers, and killed six people.]

This article was prepared from interviews with U.S. government and military officials, French counterterrorism officials, Italian counterterrorism prosecutors, Algerian terrorism experts, Tunisian government officials and a Tunisian lawyer working with Islamists charged with terrorist activities.

They say North Africa, with its vast, thinly governed stretches of mountain and desert, could become an Afghanistan-like terrorist hinterland within easy striking distance of Europe. That is all the more alarming because of the deep roots that North African populations have in Europe and the ease of travel between the two regions. For the United States, the threat is also real because of visa-free travel for most European passport holders to American cities.

The group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, known by its French initials, GSPC, has for several years been under American watch.

"The GSPC has become a regional terrorist organization, recruiting and operating in all of your countries and beyond," Henry Crumpton said last year as the U.S. ambassador at large for counterterrorism. "It is forging links with terrorist groups in Morocco, Nigeria, Mauritania, Tunisia and elsewhere," he said at a counterterrorism conference in Algiers.

Officials say the GSPC is funneling North African fighters to Iraq but is also turning militants back toward their home countries.

The GSPC's ambitions are particularly troubling to counterterrorism officials on the watch for re-emerging networks that were largely interrupted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, against the United States. While most estimates put the group's current membership in the hundreds, it has survived more than a decade of Algerian government attempts to eradicate it. It is now the most organized, best financed terrorist group in the region.

On Sept., 11, 2006, Al Qaeda anointed the GSPC as its representative in North Africa. In January, the group reciprocated by changing its name to Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, claiming that Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, had ordered the change.

"Al Qaeda's aim is for the GSPC to become a regional force, not solely an Algerian one," said a French counterterrorism magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguière.

Bruguière calls the Algerian group the greatest terrorist threat facing France today.

"We know from cases that were working on that the GSPC's mission is now to recruit people in Morocco and Tunisia, train them and send them back to their countries of origin or Europe to mount attacks," he said.

The GSPC was created in 1998 as an offshoot from the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA, which fought a decade-long civil war after the Algerian military canceled elections in early 1992 because an Islamist party was poised to win.

In 2003, a GSPC leader in southern Algeria kidnapped European tourists, some of whom were released for a ransom of ?5 million, or about $6.5 million, paid by Germany.

Officials say the leader, Amari Saifi, bought weapons and recruited fighters before the U.S. military helped corner and catch him in 2004. He is now serving a life sentence in Algeria.

Since then, an even more radical leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel, has taken over the group. The Algerian military says he trained in the 1990s as a member of the GIA's Ahoual, or Horror, company, blamed for some of the most gruesome massacres of Algeria's civil war. He announced his arrival with a truck bomb at the country's most important electrical production facility in June 2004 and focused on associating the group with Al Qaeda.

Links to the GSPC soon began appearing in terrorism cases elsewhere in North Africa and in Europe. In 2005, Morocco arrested a man named Anour Majrar, and told Italy and France that he and two other militants visited GSPC leaders in Algeria that year.

His interrogation led to arrests in Algeria, Italy and France, where Majrar's associates were quickly linked to an attempted robbery of ?5 million at an armored car depot in Beauvais, north of Paris. A hole had been blown in a wall at the depot with military grade C4 plastic explosives, but the hole was not big enough for the men to get through.

A subsequent investigation turned up Kalashnikovs; Famas, French military assault rifles; rocket-propelled grenades; TNT and more C4.

French counterterrorism officials say the group was planning attacks on the Paris Métro, Orly Airport, and the headquarters of the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, the French domestic intelligence agency.

Italian prosecutors say a related cell in Milan was planning attacks on the city's police headquarters and Bologna's Basilica of San Petronio, whose 15th-century fresco of the Last Judgment depicts the Prophet Muhammad in hell, chained to a rock and clawed by a demon.

The GSPC or its members in Algeria appear to have become a touchstone for cells across the region in much the way that representatives of Al Qaeda in London did a decade ago.

Wiretaps, interrogation of terrorist suspects and recovered documents suggest that the network has associates in France, Italy, Turkey and even Greece, which is favored as an entry point to Europe because of its relatively lax immigration controls, according to counterterrorism officials.

There had been hints that the North African groups were planning more formal cooperation as far back as 2005 when Moroccan intelligence found messages sent by Islamic militants to bin Laden, European counterintelligence officials said.

Indications that a cross-border alliance was under way came in June 2005, when the GSPC attacked a military outpost in Mauritania, killing 15 soldiers. The attackers fled into Mali, according to the U.S. military.

The Moroccan police, in raiding suspected Islamic militant cells last summer, also found documents discussing a union between the GSPC and the Islamic Combatant Group in Morocco, the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya and several smaller Tunisian groups, intelligence officials say.

In September, Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a videotape in which he said his global terrorist network had joined forces with the GSPC. The video was followed by an unsettling increase in terrorist attacks across the region, including a deadly one against Halliburton employees in Algeria in December.

But the strongest evidence yet of the GSPC's North African cross-border cooperation came in January when Tunisia announced that it had killed 12 and captured 15 Islamic extremists, 6 of whom had arrived from Algeria. Their leader, Lassad Sassi, 36, was a former Tunisian gendarme who ran a terrorist cell in Milan until May 2001 before fleeing to Algeria, according to an Italian prosecutor, Armando Spataro.

Sassi is named as a defendant in a terrorism trial in Milan that charges him with providing military clothing and money to the GSPC while financing and planning suicide bomb attacks in Italy.

Tunisian officials say Sassi and five other men ? four Tunisians and one Mauritanian ? crossed the rugged border from Algeria months ago to organize a terrorist cell in Tunisia. They established a training camp in a mountainous area that once served as a redoubt for Tunisian resistance fighters hiding from French colonial forces.

The decision to move against the group began when the police in the Tunis suburb of Hammam Lif detained a young veiled woman in December who led them to a house where a gun battle left two suspected terrorists dead, two officers wounded and two other men in custody, a police officer involved said. His account of the events could not be independently verified.

Another arrest led the police into the hills near the training camp. Three of the militants and a Tunisian Army captain were killed during the subsequent chase through the mountains. Tunisian security forces mounted a manhunt in which 13 more were arrested and Sassi was killed. The remnants of the group fled but a subsequent gun battle and siege led to the deaths of the others.

Jan/Feb 2007 Algeria For the full article.. (Christianity Today) I was standing in Oran Airport, hopefully eyeing the baggage belt with a crowd of other passengers, when a tall, narrow-faced Algerian materialized by my side. He greeted me in Arabic, and when I responded with a blank stare he grinned and switched to English. A visitor unable to speak Arabic, Berber, or even French was unusual. The fact that I was also a journalist, female, Christian, and American didn't add to my popularity rating in this part of the world. After obtaining a visa, securing the translation services of "Davy," an Algerian believer fluent in four languages, had been essential.

Over the last 20 years I have had the privilege of covering stories of God's people in 94 countries. This was my first trip to Algeria, the fabled northwest African country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. My assignment that April 2005 was to report on the fastest-growing church-planting movement in the Muslim world.

My translator was a product of this phenomenon. On the way to my accommodations, Davy shared how he had loved to listen to Christian music on Radio Monte Carlo when he was a university student. Eventually, at his request, they sent him a copy of the Gospels. Reading Jesus' Sermon on the Mount made a big impact, especially the phrase "love your enemies."

"I had never found that phrase anywhere in Islam," he explained. "There was a great difference between the Qur'an (Muslim holy book) and Injil (New Testament). In the Gospel it was like talking to God as a friend. In Islam you are a servant. I accepted Jesus because He practiced what He preached?and He gave me fellowship with God."

One young believer exclaimed, "I didn't know it was possible for a Muslim to become a Christian!"  

Unfortunately, Davy hadn't had any other fellowship, since it was 12 years before he met another Christian.

A Young Church in Action

I spent the next few days at the House of Hope, a strategic ministry center established on the west coast by an Algerian Christian leader about eight years ago. Its goal is to encourage and equip churches, providing the resources, training, and fellowship so badly needed by scattered believers.

"Ali" and "Lilly," a delightful couple on the staff, are former Muslims who have the responsibility of following up responses from Christian TV. Two years ago the channel began listing Ali's mobile phone number as a contact. It was a risk, of course, and the pair is sometimes hassled by hate calls. But they'll never forget the very first response they received, at 6 a.m. The caller said he had been following Christ since 1999 and he couldn't wait to meet Ali. Until he saw that number on the screen, he hadn't known that there was another Christian in all of Algeria!

 For an idea of what the Kabylia awakening looks like, turn to the Book of Acts. Believers gather daily for prayer, healings, and deliverance.  

Seeds of Revival

Alas, I never made it to the famous Kasbah, but an overnight stay with a young couple in Algiers left a deeper impression than the old walled citadel might have. "Dis" was from an Arab family, taught from an early age to hate Christians and Americans. "But when I learned about Jesus in the Qur'an," he explained, "I liked Him. I thought, If God gave me a choice, I would follow Jesus. He is not a man of war." The attraction grew as he listened to Christian radio. Then, one night, Dis had a vision of a heavenly being who informed him that Jesus was Lord. At that moment, his heart was transformed. Now he is full of love, not hate; dedicated to bringing reconciliation between Arabs and Kabyles.

Over 90 percent of churches in Algeria lie within the mountainous northeast area known as Kabylia. The country's 35 million population is largely made up of two people groups. The earliest, Berber-speaking residents were later conquered by Muslim Arabs, who now outnumber Berbers about five to one. The latter feel, with some justification, that they have been badly treated. Arab/Kabyle hostilities came to a head after the French left Algeria in 1962, when the new (Arab) government tried to unite the country under one language, one religion, and one culture. Kabyle Berbers had Christian roots and were not considered strong Muslims?even indulging in the eating of pork and drinking of beer. So the government moved Arabs into their midst and built more mosques. But the situation exploded in 1980 when Arabic was declared Algeria's only official language. Intellectuals who defended Berber culture were killed, and many university students died in demonstrations.

Although the national language policy was finally amended in 2002 to include Berber, Kabylia's bitterness against all things Arab paved the way for a huge revival of Christianity. Seeds patiently sown decades earlier by missionary pioneers like the Charles Marsh family?and by the distribution of thousands of Jesus film videos and gospels in the late '90s?were finally ready to bloom.

For an idea of what the Kabylia awakening looks like, turn to the Book of Acts. Believers gather daily in homes for prayer and to experience dreams, visions, healings, and deliverance. Even former terrorists, Muslim leaders, and sorcerers are coming to faith. In fact, such occurrences are so much a part of church growth that they are not regarded as extraordinary. The new fellowships springing up all over Kabylia are very much New Testament churches (one very good reason being that only the New Testament is yet available in the Berber language). So far they have steered clear of denominational labels and foreign leadership. Local pastors have little formal training. But as one puts it, "The Holy Spirit is more important than a certificate. Studies are important, yes, but it takes a balance. We just want to center on Jesus. The gospel has to be practical; not just words, but actions."

Not a Lost Cause

"People here in Algeria?especially young people?are thirsty to know God," Davy, my translator, had assured me as I started listening to testimonies. But the thing that most deeply affected me about Algeria was the evidence of God's Spirit, reaching out through radio, TV?even dreams and visions?to satisfy that thirst.

The number of Christians in this land is thought to have surpassed 40,000. As one national leader asserts, "There is no doubt that this is God's time for Algeria. I am deeply convinced that if we miss this opportunity, we are making one of church history's greatest mistakes!"

4/11/07 Algeria For the full article  (Associated Press) Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Jazeera television said it received a claim of responsibility from al-Qaida in the Maghreb for both bombings.

The station said it received a telephone call from a spokesman for Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claiming responsibility for both attacks. The station gave no further details.

The group was formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat ? known by its French abbreviation GSPC ? but changed its name when it announced its alliance with al-Qaida in January.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was unhurt, said that militants ? believed to be linked to al-Qaida ? were responsible for the "cowardly, criminal terrorist act" as he spoke to reporters outside his wrecked offices.

No group claimed responsibility.

The attacks were a devastating setback for the North African nation's efforts to close the chapter on its Islamic insurgency that has killed 200,000 people. After years of relative calm, an al-Qaida affiliate recently has recently waged several smaller attacks in the oil- and gas-rich nation.

Belkhadem declined to say how many had been killed or wounded.

A charred, wrecked car lay on the pavement about 98 feet from the gates of the government building ? a modern white, block-like high-rise that also houses the Interior Ministry. It was not immediately clear if the car had been involved in the bombing.

Police cordoned off stairs leading up to the government building with orange police tape, and paramedics raced up the steps with stretchers. Paramedics escorted a man with blood on his head into an ambulance. Another woman, looking dazed and in tears, was checked for head injuries.

The explosion at about 10:45 local time caused windows to rattle at least a half-mile away. Few details were immediately available about the other attack east of the capital.

Algeria's insurgency broke out in 1992, after the army canceled legislative elections that an Islamic party appeared set to win.

Since then, violence related to the insurgency has left an estimated 200,000 dead ? civilians, soldiers and Islamic fighters ? according to the government. Algeria's military led a crackdown on militants hiding out in the country's brush and mountains, while the government tried to reconcile the nation with several amnesty offers to militants willing to turn in their weapons.

Large-scale violence died down in the late 1990s, but skirmishes have surged in recent months as an al-Qaida affiliate carried out a deadly and carefully planned series of bomb attacks. Several targeted foreign workers.

A March 3 bombing of a bus carrying workers for a Russian company killed a Russian engineer and three Algerians. A December attack near Algiers and targeting a bus carrying foreign employees of an affiliate of Halliburton killed an Algerian and a Lebanese citizen.

Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa ? the new name for the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French abbreviation GSPC ? claimed responsibility for both attacks.

4/12/07 Morocco, Algeria, Islam For the full article (Christian Science Monitor) Two car bombs in Algeria Wednesday provided jarring reminders of the Islamic insurgency that wreaked havoc there in the 1990s. It was a signal that yet another large-scale battle with militants may be brewing.

For weeks, the government has been fighting Al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the remote highlands of the North African nation. But these are the first attacks on the capital, Algiers, in years ? one hit the prime minister's office in the city center and the other a police station in the eastern outskirts. Together the attacks killed at least 30 people.

In neighboring Morocco on Tuesday, three suspected terrorists exploded suicide belts and another was shot dead as police were chasing them. They were all wanted in connection with another suicide bombing on March 11.

The governments of this region, ruled by entrenched authoritarians, face a confrontation with a growing Islamist movement. Some groups are rising up to challenge the government in elections, and others are becoming more violent.

The challenge for the leaders of Morocco and Algeria, say analysts, is how to subdue the Islamist movement without empowering more radicals or undercutting mainstream, moderate Muslim forces.

"What the Moroccans did was smart, by opening the door slowly, by allowing in [several] Islamist [groups]. That's one way of diluting the power of any one party," says Marina Ottaway, head of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

"The worst thing that can happen from the point of view of the government is what happened in Algeria [in the 1990s]," she says. "All of the sudden they uncorked the bottle, and all the [political] support goes to the Islamists," which the government then tried to suppress, sparking a brutal civil war that started in 1992.

Rita Katz, director of the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) institute in Washington, confirmed that Wednesday's attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the newly renamed group of veteran Algerian fighters from the civil war.

"They changed their strategy in the last few months to Al Qaeda [style of] targeting military positions and foreign companies. I believe they carried out this attempted attack on the prime minister. It really looks like them," says Ms. Katz.

Morocco has seen only a smattering of such violence recently, but analysts say the way it handles political opposition will determine whether radical elements of Islamist groups are empowered.

Political parties based on religion are banned in Morocco, but parties with "an Islamic reference" are permitted to run in elections as long as they follow the monarchy's rules. That means acknowledging the authority of the king and submitting to election laws that make it impossible for any one group to dominate the parliament. Some groups are participating in elections and gaining limited political power, while others reject the system entirely but maintain grass-roots support.

"In the Islamic world, the Islamist movements are close to the people because the governments aren't there. The people go with the Islamists. In every small place, every alley, there is [The] Justice and Charity Organization," in Morocco, which rejects political participation, says Mohammed Darif, a political science professor at the Hassan II University in Mohammedia, Morocco. "Any Islamist group that supports the government will lose their popular support."

Another group, The Justice and Development Party, is taking a different route. It is the third-largest political party in the Moroccan parliament and the leading group with an "Islamic reference." It is expected to garner even more seats in parliamentary elections planned for September.

But this political success has come at a price. The group is careful to emphasize that they view religion and politics as separate spheres and say while they support reforms along Islamic values, those values are similar to many democratic ideas. They chose to limit the seats they ran for in the last election, a step to show the government they are not seeking too much power too quickly.

"We believe that as an opposition party we will help channel grievances and integrate grievances from the society. The stability of the system is related in part to the existence of these kinds of channels, and as a party we offer this," says Mustapha Khalifi, who is organizing the party's political platform for the upcoming elections.

While better positioned to push for reforms, they are not as popular as the outlawed Justice and Charity Organization, which has a broad social services network and rejects the monarchy and political participation. It says it supports a mix of Islamic spiritual guidance in politics with democratic, nonviolent principles.

"We are completely marginalized because we don't accept the nature of power. We think it's not a democratic way. It's based on the power of one, the king," says Nadia Yassine, the daughter of the leader of the Justice and Charity Organization. She was jailed once and now faces trial for saying the kingdom should become a republic.

"We don't want to dirty our hands ... so the only way we have to resist to this very antidemocratic power is to stay on the margin, to stay in the true opposition," she says.

But popular support and the ability to make social reforms may not translate into making tangible political reforms.

"There is a very definite risk for Islamic parties to participate in a government because the voters will hold them responsible and say 'Why didn't you do more,' but parties that reject violence but at the same time reject political participation, how are they going to have an impact on political process?" says Ms. Ottaway.

Across the African continent, Egypt has taken a very different tack with the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful Islamist movement that has spread throughout the region.

The group is banned, and its members are routinely rounded up in mass arrests by the government. It has tried to get around curbs on its activities by running independent candidates in parliamentary elections.

Jordan has taken a similar approach, both cracking down and including Islamists. It has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Islamic Action Front to participate in parliament.

5/1/07 Algeria, Morocco For the full article (Christian Science Monitor)  A briefing on the violent rise of a new-old jihadist group in Algeria.

Algeria's ISLAMIC militants were finished. As recently as last summer, security officials thought they had subdued Islamic insurgents after nearly a decade of civil war. They were wrong. Nearly eight months ago, Algerian militants declared an alliance with Al Qaeda and have violently announced their resurgence with a wave of spectacular attacks. So far this year, at least 165 people have died in the ensuing political violence. The newly christened Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb presents a new challenge ? and not just in North Africa. Staff writer Jill Carroll reports on the rise of this new-old group of jihadists.

How did Al Qaeda emerge in North Africa?

The Algerian militant organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, known by its French initials GSPC, officially joined Al Qaeda with the Sept. 11, 2006, announcement by Ayman Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's No. 2. Later, in a January statement, GSPC took on the name Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

With its new moniker and broader, global aims came increased violence. Last month, suicide bombers targeted the Algerian capital, Algiers, killing at least 33 people in the deadliest attack in that city in at least five years.

But long before the official union was announced, Algeria's radical Islamists were building ties with Osama bin Laden's group, according to terrorist experts.

The founders of GSPC fought alongside other militants in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. That battle not only gave rise to Al Qaeda, but dispersed fighters throughout the Middle East. The GSPC was formed in 1998 when its leaders split from Algeria's Armed Islamic Group, known by its French initials GIA. In 1993, a top member of Al Qaeda met with Islamist fighters starting to organize in Algeria and Mr. bin Laden gave factions of the GIA $40,000, Lawrence Wright reported in his new book, "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11."

The GIA launched a brutal insurgency against the Algerian government in 1992 after the government canceled elections because an Islamist party was set to win. The GIA crumbled under intense pressure from Algerian security services and amid internal divisions about their harsh tactics, but not until at least 150,000 people had died.

Their brutality, particularly to civilians, drew criticism from the global jihadi community, including from bin Laden, which felt they were giving "holy warriors" a bad name. By the end of the 1990s, experts say, GIA had fallen out with Al Qaeda and other jihadi groups.

Today, it's difficult to quantify the membership of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Last year, the Algerian government said 800 jihadists were active in GSPC. But the group disputed that, saying far more were involved, according to Rita Katz, director of the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute in Washington.

"What we can say for certain is that [among] the jihadists online, the support for AQIM is growing. Adopting the name Al Qaeda brought the GSPC the instant support of tens of thousands of online jihadists, many now who perceive the group as fighting on behalf of Al Qaeda," says Ms. Katz in an e-mailed response to questions.

What are AQIM's objectives?

The group's leader, Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, whose given name is Abdelmalek Droukdel, made clear in the January statement that the group planned a high-profile campaign of violence against Algerian security forces and foreign targets under the new banner of Al Qaeda.

Mr. Abdel Wadoud praised the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan and railed against the US, France, Israel, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He also called Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "an ally to this nation's enemies" that has "trampled over" and "desecrated" Islamic sharia law, according to a translation of the communiqué on the website of Evan Kohlmann, a New York-based international terrorist expert.

Mr. Kohlmann says the group is "seeking headlines. They are clearly targeting foreigners."

For Abdel Wadoud ? believed to have been radicalized while attending university ? the alliance with Al Qaeda gives his group world recognition and credibility. "Al Qaeda remains the most important brand name among the jihadists," says Katz.

In southern Algeria, there is another grouping of GSPC that has not joined Al Qaeda. Its leaders have been killed or imprisoned in recent years. The relationship between Abdul Wadoud's group and the southern faction is unclear, Katz says.

How is the Algerian government handling this new threat?

Algerian security forces have a reputation of being tough, and their experience with infiltrating and breaking up the GIA insurgency in the '90s could be useful.

Since the recent spate of bombings and attacks claimed by AQIM, Algerian security services have been fighting militants in the mountains and forests outside Algiers. Exact details of the battles have been kept secret by the government.

Many media reports say about a dozen soldiers and a dozen militants have been killed in the sporadic battles. Reuters reported on Monday, for example, that at least 28 Islamist militants were killed in April.

Just last week Algerian security services said they killed the second in command of the group, Samir Saioud, who also went by Samir Moussaab. AQIM disputed in a statement that he was a high-ranking member but confirmed he was killed.

Algerian security forces claimed last year to have killed or imprisoned 750 to 800 militants, Katz says. But, she notes, such numbers are difficult to verify and, regardless, the "strength of the group has not diminished."

"However, much action is taken against these groups. Because they have staying power the battle waged against these groups must be a very long [war]," says Rohan Gunaratna, author of a book on Al Qaeda and associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

What are the implications for security in North Africa and Europe?

There have been links between various North African militant groups for years. AQIM seeks to unite them.

Bringing radical Islamists under a common umbrella with the intent to strike at Western targets spells trouble for the regional regimes who have long tried to keep Islamist parties at bay.

"Traditionally the North African [militant] groups have been important, but now they have increased importance because they have an alliance [that facilitates] an exchange of personnel, technology, and financing," says Mr. Gunaratna.

North Africans have risen in the ranks of Al Qaeda around the world, analysts say. The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group also helped broker the alliance between the GSPC and Al Qaeda, says Gunaratna.

The GSPC has been active in Europe, particularly against its old colonial ruler, France. In September 2005, French police uncovered a group of militants linked to the GSPC that were planning to attack various sites in Paris.

Several suicide bombings in Morocco as well as a rare shootout between Tunisian police and militants recently raised concerns about the groups crossing the porous desert borders in the region and exchanging expertise and resources. But Moroccan authorities insist recent suicide bombings and the cells of militants that produced them are not linked to outside groups.

According to an article by B Mokhtaria in Le Quotidien D'Oran the new commission now has authority over non-Muslim business and worship. It also has the right to contribute a preliminary opinion regarding the re gistration of religious associations and the approval of sites for worship. (Link 5)

The spokesman for and advisor to the Ministry for Religious Affairs, Mr Tamine, told Oran that the new laws were promulgated simply to fill in an existing gap in the law as the authorities have become aware of the origins of "extremists" in recent years. He said that the new laws will enable the authorities to crack down on foreign missionaries who enter Algeria on tourist visas to seduce Algerians and convert them to Christianity by fraud and allurement. According to Mr Tamine, these missionaries act under the cover of religion while in reality, he alleges, their agenda is not religious at all. He maintains that Algeria must resist the activities of these non-Muslim "extremists". He asserts that the new law is not repressive, but protective, and will even protect the Christian expatriate working community from the consequences of religious demonstrations and reactions against Christian "extremism".

CHRISTIAN S CHARGED WITH POSSESSION

On 20 June, five Algerian Christians faced court on charges of possession of Christian literature. (Link 6)

One believer appeared before the court for a second time on 27 June and will reappear in court on 19 December. He had been approached by two men pretending to be interested in the gospel on account of a satellite programme they had seen on El Hayat. The men asked the Christian if he could give them a Bible. When he did, the enquirers revealed themselves as police, arrested the believer and confiscated the box of Bibles he had in his possession. Two other believers were reportedly tricked into giving a Bible to a police officer at a road block. They will face court in September. According to sources the Algerian media did not cover the June trials.

Many believe that the Algerian authorities are overwhelmed and confused by the growing phenomenon of Muslims converting to Christianity.

Whilst this is doubtless true, it is also reasonable to question if the government's increasing ly repressive policies regarding Christianity are in some measure being driven by a desire to appease increasingly threatening Islamic forces.

THE REAL EXTREMIST THREAT

Algerians know that the real threat to Algerian security and stability, progress and prosperity is Islamic "extremism" and fundamentalist militancy.

In late 2006 the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. On 24 January 2007, with the blessing of Osama bin Laden, the group changed its name to The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. On 11 April, around 30 people were killed and 22 wounded when this group detonated two bombs in Algiers, one at a police station and one which ripped the facade off the President's headquarters. (Link 7)

On Wednesday 11 July a 20-year-old jihadist from an al-Qaeda cell bombed an army barracks in Lakhdaria village, 120 km (75 miles) east of Algiers. This suicide truck bombing killed 10 so ldiers and wounded 35. (Link 8)

A MEMRI article issued after the 11 April bombings in Algiers entitled "Reactions in the Algerian and Arab Press to the Al-Qaeda Attacks in Algiers" shows that Algerians are under no illusions about the real extremist threat.

MEMRI reports: "Hakim Outoudert, writing in the regional daily La Depeche de Kabylie, questioned the Interior Minister's assertion that the attacks were an isolated event, and called for an ideological battle against fundamentalism in order to dry up the 'terrorist matrix'.

". . . 'Where did these young people contract this evil, if not from within Algerian society, through a bigoted media literature, but above all within the mosques in subversive suburbs? . . . [Should we] do away with fundamentalism, the matrix of terrorism, by drying up [its] ideological ground, or maintain [its] destructive potential by ceding it the terrain of political initiative? One day we'll have to choose. The sooner the better.'" (Link 9)

Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au  

Middle East   For the full story, go to CBNNews.com - The Muslim call to prayer resounds through a large part of the Earth, where more than one billion people call themselves Muslims. 

Throughout the Islamic world, many Muslims from Gaza to London are also responding to the call to global jihad, where the goal is to take over the world for Islam. It's a clash of civilizations with the Christian faith in the middle.

Throughout the nearly 1,400 year history of Islam, Muslims have resisted the Christian Gospel. Many Christians tried to reach them with the good news, but with little success. 

But according to many reports from the Middle East and around the world, that history is changing. 

"I see many, many Arabic-speaking people turning to Christ, accepting Him as Lord and Savior,? said Nizar Shaheen, host of Light for the Nations, a Christian program seen throughout the Muslim world. "It's happening all over the Arab world. It's happening in North Africa. It's happening in the Middle East. It's happening in the Gulf countries. It's happening in Europe and Canada and the United States-in the Arabic-speaking world. Everywhere, people are accepting Jesus."

"What's happening nowadays in the Muslim world has never happened before," said Father Zakaria Boutros, an Egyptian Coptic priest who is one of the foremost evangelists to the Muslim world. He says a cross-section of Muslims are accepting Jesus Christ. "Young and old, educated and not educated, males and females, even those who are fanatic." 
 
One fanatic Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ is Samer Achmad Muhammed. He studied for years to become a Wahhabi sheik, one of the most virulent forms of Islam. He hated Christians and the church, but his heart changed when he heard the Gospel. 

"I dedicated my life to Jesus Christ, Jesus forgave me for my sins,? he said. ?He gave me eternal life and peace. And the second thing, I really suffered in my daily life, but I had peace, I had joy because Jesus entered my heart."

Muhammed is just one of many who are coming to Jesus. Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries sees thousands of African Muslims receiving Jesus and getting baptized.  

"It's probably the only place in the world where they are coming so quickly,? she said. ?Many people are having dreams. They see Jesus appear to them. Probably half our pastors were leaders, imams in Moslem mosques. They were leaders in these mosques, now they're pastors."

September 4, 2007 Algeria (El Khabar)---Five people were sentenced earlier in June for charges related preaching Christian doctrine and public order offences by virtue of the law on the religious practice in Algeria approved by the government in 2006. The sentences vary between one year sentence with no remission and one year suspended sentence with a 5000 AD fine.

Public authorities started implementing the legal texts ruling the religious practice in Algeria. Five people are to be tried for Christian doctrine preaching as well as public order offending. Sentences were considered by the indicted as a beach to the freedom of worship established by the constitution and stressed that they were trapped by security services.

The press attaché at the religious affairs ministry Mr. Tammine said he didn?t know about the trial, but all those who practice illegally the religious rituals i.e. outside the religious community. The same legal texts are applicable to Salafist Muslim communities.

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December 31, 2007 Algeria (AKI) - Lawmakers from the Algerian Islamic political party of al-Nahda have asked the government to intervene to slow down "the activities of Christian missionaries in the country".

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"We want the government to cut down this type of activity because the expansion of evangelisation in Algeria has become an important problem and is not marginal as some think it is," said Hudeibi.

For some years, the local media in Algeria have reported on the activities of a number of missionaries, particularly those from evangelical and Protestant churches, who have succeeded in converting entire Algerian families to Christianity, particularly those who come from the eastern area of Kabilia.

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Thursday, 03 January 2008 Algeria (AlArabiya.net)-A leading Islamic scholar in Algeria has accused the Protestant Church of bribing people to convert to Christianity, and called on authorities to crack down on "aggression against Algerians," a press report said Wednesday.

The head of the Algerian Association of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman Al-Shayban, called on officials to counter missionary campaigns by the church which, he said, "has reached the point of aggression against Algerians."

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Shayban called for a crackdown under the religious practice law for non-Muslims, which, he said, is the only way to protect Muslims.

The law regulates the activities of religious minorities and places their congregations under close scrutiny. It also stipulates that non-Muslim conferences must get prior permission from the provincial governor and provide a list of participants and their addresses.

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Shayban said that after independence, Algerian Christians only asked for the freedom to practice their religion. "Now they have reached the extent of assaulting us," he added.

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January 15, 2008 Algeria (WWRN)-An Algerian security forces team is examining a new program for fighting missionary activity, to be submitted to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The program, which was prepared by clerics, includes encouraging citizens to report missionary activity and efforts to raise funds to support indigent individuals considering converting to Christianity, and counterpropaganda in order to point out the contradictions and heresy in Christianity and Judaism.

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February 1, 2008 Algeria (CBNNews.com)- ?

The Algerian people are trying to move beyond a bloody 15-year Islamic insurgency that has claimed as many as 200,000 lives there. While the government continues its fight against al Qaeda and other Islamists, another battle is being waged- -this one for the hearts and souls of Algerians.

Muslims are coming to Christ there as never before--mostly in mountain villages among berber ethnic groups.

Youssef Ourahmane is an Algerian pastor.

"The church is still growing fast, I have no doubt about it. The TV has a tremendous impact on the lives of the people there--especially Arabic language stations where for the first time many Algerians of course watch and see and hear Muslim converts who are preaching, who are teaching and telling them stories and also getting some facts about Islam and their faith in the Koran," he said.

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The Algerian church has grown to about 70,000 adherents. Seventy percent of the Chirstians are under the age of thirty. Hundreds stand in line for more than an hour just to attend services in one church building.

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But Ashraf has paid a high price for sharing Christ in Morocco. He was arrested and sent to a mental hospital where he was injected with mind altering narcotics.

Before he accepted Christ, Ashraf was arrested for associating with believers. He says national security police tortured him with electricity to get him to provide information about his Christian friends.

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"We expect (2008) will be (a) tougher situation because now there are complaints from the religious leaders. Imams in Algeria...they complain against what is happening, the evangelization of the Algerians," explained Paster Youssef.

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Tuesday, 05 February 2008  Algeria (BosNewsLife)- Algerian authorities have launched a crackdown on Christians suspected of involvement in evangelism, as part of attempts to enforce a new strict religious law, a well-informed rights group said Tuesday, February 5.

Netherlands-based Open Doors, which has close contacts with Christians reportedly persecuted for their faith, told BosNewsLife that active believers are especially under pressure in Kabylia, a cultural region in the north of Algeria, where Christians have apparently been arrested and dismissed from their workplace.

In one of the latest incidents, the director of a Christian school in Kabylia region was allegedly fired by Algeria's Ministry of Education for his alleged involvement in evangelism. Open Doors researchers quoted the national radio broadcaster as saying that the director "used the school to propagate Christianity, in violation of the study plan of the school."

Earlier in Kabylia, in the town of Tizi Ouzo, five Christians were sentenced for preaching Christianity last year, with some of them receiving one year imprisonment, BosNewsLife reported earlier, citing Algerian media in September.

Strict Law

Last year Algeria?s parliament adopted a law that provides tough prison sentence for those "trying to call on a Muslim to embrace another religion." Commentators said at the time that the law in the North African nation was in response to Christian evangelists and missionary workers who have preached in several parts of the country.

The law would be especially applied to "anyone urging or forcing or tempting, to convert a Muslim to another religion." Christian publishers have been targeted as the same penalties apply to every "person, manufacturer, store or circulate publications or audio-visual [media]" or other communication tools "aiming at destabilizing attachment to Islam."

The law also bans practicing any religion "except Islam" outside "buildings allocated for that" by prior licensing. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has suggested that the aim of the law is to "ban religious activity" and what it called "secret religious campaigns." However Open Doors said the legislation violates Algeria's own constitution, which includes guarantees related to "freedom of conscious and opinion as well as freedom of assembly."

Controversial President

Although Algeria under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won some praise from the West for backing the US-led "war on terror," and restoring security, the reported crackdown on Christians have added to concerns among rights campaigners about alleged abuses by security forces.

He had promised, on first taking office in 1999, to restore national harmony and to end years of bloodshed, releasing thousands of Muslim militants.

More than a million Algerians were killed in the fight for independence from France in 1962, and analysts say the country only recently emerged from a bloody internal conflict that followed scrapped elections in 1992. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Algeria).

Saturday, February 9, 2008 Algeria (ANS) -- Algeria's Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday (February 6th) that ongoing investigations led to the arrests of six suspects in the December 11th, 2007, suicide bombings that targeted UNHCR offices and the Constitutional Court building in the district of Hydra in upper Algiers.

According to a story by Said Jameh for Magharebia in Algiers (www.magharebia.com), the government revealed that the same individuals are also suspected in the December 11th, 2006 attack on a bus carrying employees of American-Algerian firm Brown & Root - Condor in Buchawi, west of the capital.

Jameh stated that the ministry statement said the men - an information technology engineer for PRC Construction, several contractors, an employee in a real estate development agency and a deliveryman - were all members of the Farouq Battalion, formerly led by terrorist Abderrahmane Bouzegza.

Bouzegza was killed in January by security personnel during an operation carried out in the Souk al-Had area of Boumerdès that also led to the arrests of four of his close aides.

The interior ministry explained that the justice ministry had issued 43 subpoenas against Bouzegza, who had been wanted by security forces since 1998.

Security forces announced that the names of the other arrested suspects were not previously known to them. The suspects reportedly became involved with al-Qaeda for financial reasons. Al-Qaeda groups in Algeria often seduce citizens into service with promises of large sums of money.

With the current announcement, the government has now identified all the perpetrators of the December 11th attacks.

Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni commented on the dismantling of the cell, saying: "It was the result of strong professionalism and effectiveness exhibited by the security agencies and army forces that are tasked with the anti-terrorism effort."

At the same time, he praised "citizens' contributions in achieving these results, thanks to their vigilance and the spirit of citizenship they have shown by standing alongside security forces in combating terrorism."

Now Gary Lane, reporting for CBN News, has revealed that God is moving powerfully thorough Algeria and Muslims are converting to Christ in record numbers.

He said, "The Algerian people are trying to move beyond a bloody 15-year Islamic insurgency that has claimed as many as 200,000 lives there. While the government continues its fight against al Qaeda and other Islamists, another battle is being waged - this one for the hearts and souls of Algerians.

"Muslims are coming to Christ there as never before, mostly in mountain villages among Berber ethnic groups."

In Lane's report, Algerian pastor Youssef Ourahmane said, "The church is still growing fast; I have no doubt about it. The TV has a tremendous impact on the lives of the people there--especially Arabic language stations where for the first time many Algerians of course watch and see and hear Muslim converts who are preaching, who are teaching and telling them stories and also getting some facts about Islam and their faith in the Koran

Lane went on to say, "Christianity existed in Algeria long before Islam, but disappeared in the 12th century. Today, Islam is the dominant faith, but Christianity is making a comeback.

"The Algerian church has grown to about 70,000 adherents. Seventy percent of the Christians are under the age of thirty. Hundreds stand in line for more than an hour just to attend services in one church building.

"Proselytizing Muslims is against the law in Algeria. Regardless, one evangelist - a former Muslim - travels on trains playing a guitar, singing Christian songs and telling passengers about Christ. The train ride lasts about five to six hours, so he says he has a captive audience--passengers can't leave."

Courage Critical to Church Survival

He added that overcoming fear of Muslims has been crucial to church growth.

"That has been the key and I think the church really is a missionary minded church now. They want to see more churches planted and they want to see the Algerian church become an impact not just for Algeria, but for other countries." Countries like neighboring Morocco.

"Just ask Ashraf (his identity hidden and name changed for protection). He left the Islamic faith for Christianity and began ministering to Muslims in remote mountain villages in Morocco. He showed many the Jesus film."

Ashraf said he wanted to introduce the Berbers to a loving God who forgives them.

"He forgives the sinner who makes him suffer," he said. This is most important that the people see that. They will not think of vengeance or something like this."

Lane said that Ashraf has paid a high price for sharing Christ in Morocco. He was arrested and sent to a mental hospital where he was injected with mind altering narcotics.

Before he accepted Christ, Ashraf was arrested for associating with believers. He says national security police tortured him with electricity to get him to provide information about his Christian friends.

Algerians, said Lane, have also faced persecution in their country. Last year, government officials shut down at least five house churches and several Christians were arrested.

"We expect (it) will be (a) tougher situation because now there are complaints from the religious leaders. Imams in Algeria complain against what is happening, the evangelization of the Algerians," explained Pastor Youssef.

An Amazing Move of God

Lane went on to say that their pressure has already led to a new, tougher law: a hefty fine and imprisonment for those found guilty of shaking the faith of a Muslim. The law has yet to be implemented.

But Pastor Youssef suggested laws cannot stop the amazing move of God in North Africa.

"There's no doubt with what is happening today--with God arising men and women who are gifted in preaching, church planting, worship and other things as well. It's an amazing sign of hope," he said.

As for Ashraf the Moroccan evangelist, he knows the risks he faces sharing Christ in an Islamic country, yet he remains unafraid.

"I will always trust God who gives me new life," he said. "Always God is with me everywhere."

FEB. 13, 2008 Algeria (Zenit.org). - A Catholic priest was sentenced by the tribunal of Oran, a city in northwestern Algeria, to a year in prison for having ?directed a religious ceremony in a place which has not been recognized by the government.?

Father Pierre Wallez is the first victim of legislation approved in March 2006 regarding the exercise of the practices of non Muslim worship, in this North African country of 33 million residents, 99% of whom are Muslim.

Speaking Saturday on Vatican Radio, Archbishop Henri Teissier of Alger, explained that ?the most surprising thing is that the conviction was issued simply because the priest visited a group of Christians in Cameroon. He had not celebrated Mass, but was only joining them in a prayer. It was Dec. 29, a little after Christmas."

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?They systematically reject entrance visas for our delegates,? stated the archbishop, ?and in November they withdrew the residency permission for four young Brazilian priests who were working with the Portuguese-speaking African immigrants.?

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The law, composed of 17 articles, prohibits the exercise of non-Islamic worship outside buildings approved by authorities.

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Friday, February 15, 2008 Algeria (ANS) -- At the end of February, 2006, a new law was adopted in Algeria incriminating numerous acts linked to the exercise of non-Muslim religious worship (i.e. Christian) with punishment including up to 5 years imprisonment and heavy fines.

An American living and working in France, who asked not to be named, says the Algerian government is now starting to use this law against the Algerian Evangelical Christians.

He writes to ANS: "Three Algerian brothers were just found guilty and sentenced to three years of prison and fined $750. The crime: discrediting the religion and the person of the Prophet, i.e. Islam and Mohamed. This was apparently the first such decision in Algeria according to the new law. Algerian Christians are not surprised but they are alarmed."

The American says the outbreak of oppression is clearly targeting the Evangelicals in Algeria in order to stop the growth of this movement.

"Local authorities and police are working together to deliver legal orders to the communities that they must stop all their church activities or suffer the consequences. The reason -- it is against the law! Eight churches have so far received these official notifications. Some police agents are requiring written lists of all persons present during a worship time and a written text of the preaching with the name of the preacher. Penalties are doubled for preachers.

According to the American, in Oran, four brothers, two of whom are members of the official government recognized national council of the Reformed Protestant Church, were judged and condemned without even appearing in court as they did not receive the court summons in time.

"They were convicted of blaspheming the Prophet and sentenced to 3 years in prison and a fine of around $7,500. A school principle and two teachers were fired from their posts by the National Education authorities."

** Pray for our brothers to stand strong to the honor of the Lord Jesus.

** Pray that this persecution will purify the church and cause it to grow even faster.

** Pray for the Spirit to speak directly through all who are called before the police and political authorities.

** Pray that there will be an international outcry such that the Algerian authorities have to retract.

Thursday, February 21, 2008 Algeria (Christian Today)-Algeria's tiny Catholic community is in trouble with the authorities because of a mistaken belief that it wants to convert Muslims, the country's Roman Catholic archbishop said on Wednesday.

Archbishop of Algiers Henri Teissier said increased activity by evangelical Christians in the overwhelmingly Muslim country had led to periodic "serious difficulties" for Catholics even though the Church had clearly explained it was not involved.

"For the last two years, we have serious difficulties made for us by the Algerian administration every two or three months," he said in brief remarks to Reuters. "I think it's due to the fight against the proselytising by evangelical groups."

"We are not responsible for this evangelism. But the administration continues to take measures against us," he said.

"(Evangelicals) ... have arrived in Africa. And the first to have suffered from the actions of these groups are Catholics."

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Destitution

A Church statement dated Jan 31 and made available by Archbishop Teissier said the visits were intended "to provide a brotherly presence to people living in extreme destitution".

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The law, which also forbids non-Muslims from seeking to convert Muslims, was prompted by what officials have described as an increase in the activities of Christian evangelical sects.

Complaints by government officials about the alleged conversion efforts have reached a crescendo in recent weeks.

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Thursday, 28 February 2008 Algeria (BosNewLife)-An elderly American pastor and former chairman of the Protestant Church of Algeria was preparing Thursday, February 28, to launch an appeal against plans by authorities to deport him from the country.

In comments published by an influential Dutch Roman Catholic news Website, RKnieuws.net, Hugh Johnson said he had been told to leave the country by March 11. Johnson, 74, has been living in Algeria for 45 years. Algerian media, monitored by BosNewsLife, quoted Religious Affairs Ministry sources as saying that the decision was to expel the pastor was made after her brought a copy of the Bible's New Testament into the country without permission.

The announced deportation was the latest in a series of incidents involving authorities targeting Christians for their alleged involvement in evangelism or other missionary activities, said Roman Catholic Archbishop of Algiers, Henri Teissier, in published comment.

He said French priest Pierre Wallez was given a suspended one year prison sentence last month for praying with Christians in western Algeria in a place not authorized for religious worship.

Evangelical Christians

Teissier told reporters that increased activity by especially evangelical Christians in the overwhelmingly Muslim country led to periodic "serious difficulties" for Catholics even though the church had clearly explained it was not involved.

"For the last two years, we have serious difficulties made for us by the Algerian administration every two or three months," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. "I think it's due to the fight against the proselytising by evangelical groups."

In addition devoted believers have come under pressure in Kabylia, a cultural region in the north of Algeria, where Christians have been arrested and dismissed from their workplace in recent months, said Netherlands-based Open Doors, a group investigating persecution reports.

Director Fired

Recently the director of a Christian school in Kabylia region was allegedly fired by Algeria's Ministry of Education for his alleged involvement in evangelism. Open Doors researchers quoted the national radio broadcaster as saying that the director "used the school to propagate Christianity, in violation of the study plan of the school."

Earlier in Kabylia, in the town of Tizi Ouzo, five Christians were sentenced for preaching Christianity last year, with some of them receiving one year imprisonment, BosNewsLife

reported earlier, citing Algerian media in September.

In 2006, Algeria passed new religious legislation which says that anyone "trying to call on a Muslim to embrace another religion," could be sentenced to prison for two to five years and receive a fine of up to USD 12,000.

Commentators say the law was in response to Christian evangelists and missionary workers who have preached in several parts of the country. There are some 11,000 Christians in Algeria, a country of 33 million people, according to Catholic estimates.

Saturday, February 23, 2008 Algeria (persecuted-church)-A number of sources point to a worsening in the situation of Christians in Algeria, particularly in the Kabyle region, which is often singled out as being a place where evangelism occurs.Last December, the Christian director of a Kabyle primary school was suspended by the Ministry of Education. According to the ministry, the director used the school for evangelism, ?inciting Christianity and failing to follow the school curriculum.?* The Minister of Religious Affairs, Mr. Bouabdallah Ghoulamallah, was pleased with the decision.The director, however, denies the accusations.

In another incident, five people were recently taken to court in Tizi-Ouzou, Kabylie, and accused of evangelizing.

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Monday March 17, 2008 Algeria (Compass Direct News) – Police ordered two Algerian churches to cease activity last week, the latest in a series of 10 church closures and further court cases against foreign and local Christians.

In Tizi Ousou, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Algiers, security police on March 9 notified pastor Salah Chalah to close his 1,200-member Full Gospel Church. Police issued notice to a second pastor, Mustapha Krireche, to close down his church in Tizi Ouzou’s Nouvelle Ville district.

“They are trying to establish a minority, which might give foreign powers a pretext to intervene with Algeria’s domestic affairs,” Religious Affairs Minister Bu ‘Abdallah Ghoulamullah told reporters.

Ghoulamullah reportedly said that the churches and their pastors would be investigated to see if they had broken the law, according to The Media Line, a non-profit news service.

A member of Chalah’s congregation told Compass, “It’s unjust, and we feel despised by our government.”

Written police orders called on both churches to “cease all activity until [their] situation could be regularized and brought into conformity” with a 2006 religion law governing non-Muslim worship.

Passed two years ago, the law forbids attempts to convert Muslims to other religions and bans the production of media intended to “shake the faith of a Muslim.” As all Algerian Christians are converts from Islam, the new law could be interpreted to make nearly all Christian churches in the country illegal.

Authorities have only recently begun enforcing the law, which also restricts all religious gatherings to government-approved buildings.

“It would be better that authorities give us the possibility to be in conformity with the law and not order us to close the churches,” the head of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) wrote in a March 9 appeal.

The closure notice demanded that the churches conform to articles “05.06.13” but did not make clear how the church had violated these sections.

EPA President Mustapha Krim complained that article 5, which requires government approval for any physical changes to religious buildings, remains vague.

“From March 2006 to September 2006 we didn’t cease to try to have explanations on what we had to do to be in conformity with the laws,” Krim wrote. “We were trusting the minister of Religious Affairs because he said to us that clear decrees were in preparation and these would give us explanation on what we had to do to be legal.”

In consultation with lawyers, Pastor Chalah has decided to appeal the closure and continue church meetings, Christian support organization Open Doors reported on Thursday (March 13). The Holland-based organization said Algerian law requires that a judge, not the police, issue the closure order.

The Tizi Ouzou area serves as a hub for Christian activity in the country. “This is a key place in Algeria, a lung of the [greater] church where many seminars are taking place,” a director of one Christian mission working in the region told Compass.

Algeria has stepped up pressure on local and foreign Christians in recent months, ordering 10 churches to close their doors since November. That number represents approximately 20 percent of the country’s Protestant churches.

Ranging in size from several dozen to more than 1,000 members, 32 congregations in Algeria belong to the EPA, while another 20 small fellowships exist independently.

Authorities have shut down congregations in Ait Amar, Ait Djemaa, Bachloul, Boughni, Ouargla, Tiaret and Tizi Ouzou, according to a Christian advocacy group. Middle East Concern reported that the government has closed the churches on various pretexts, including security concerns and property rights, as well as non-compliance with the March 2006 religion law.

Mounting Accusations

On February 25 police ordered a U.S. citizen and former head of the EPA to leave the country within 15 days. The Rev. Hugh Johnson, 74, was later allowed to appeal the decision and continues to reside in the country while awaiting a verdict.

Johnson, who has lived in Algeria for more than 40 years, declined to comment on his situation when contacted by Compass.

In comments to reporters, Algeria’s religious affairs minister said that Johnson was being expelled following the expiration of his visa.

“The measure is purely administrative and has nothing to do with [unwanted] evangelism missions of the Protestant Church in some provinces,” daily El-Khabar quoted Ghlamallah in a February 29 report.

On February 5 three Algerian Christians were convicted of “insulting Islam” and unofficially told that they would be sentenced to three years in prison and fined, MEC reported. Their written sentences however, have yet to be delivered.

Authorities told another Algerian Christian accused of proselytism that he would be fined and jailed for a year, but at a March 5 hearing a court ruled to acquit him.

Another believer accused of the same crime is scheduled to appear before a court on April 2, MEC reported.

Algeria’s Catholics, who number only a few hundred, have also faced increased pressure from authorities in recent months. In January, French priest Pierre Wallez was given a suspended one year sentence for praying with Christians in a place not sanctioned for worship.

Wallez was visiting illegal Cameroonian migrants on the border with Morocco, part of a shifting refugee community that Catholic priests have visited for years. The priest was tried on the March 2006 religion law for conducting a service in a place other than a government-approved building.

“I think it’s due to the fight against the proselytizing by evangelical groups,” Archbishop of Algiers Henri Teissier told Reuters, explaining why the Catholic Church experienced difficulties with Algerian authorities over the past two years.

Approximately 10,000 Protestant Christians live in Algeria, a country of 33 million. Some Algerian Christians place the number of Protestants much higher, though figures are uncertain as satellite television evangelism has reportedly prompted a large number of isolated conversions.

March 25, 2008 Algeria (WWRN)-Algeria has ordered the closure of 13 Protestant churches, the head of the denomination said Monday, amid anger over allegations that Evangelist Christians are trying to convert Muslims.

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"Thirteen chapels, including 11 in Tizi Ouzou, one in Bejaia and one in Bouira have been closed on the orders of local officials," said Krim, who is the leader of the Protestant Church in Algeria.

"No reason has been given for this decision," he said, adding that he had made a formal request for explanation from the Algerian state's representative in the Tizi Ouzou region.

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The Protestant Church claims to have 50,000 followers, 10,000 of them active churchgoers, spread across 33 congregations.

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4/2/08 Algeria (MNN) Political parties are already gearing up for battle for next spring's elections in Algeria. The oppositional party, Rally for Culture and Democracy, began their campaign asking for international observers at those elections.

Operation Mobilization says there is a religious battle going on, too. Muslim leaders are using media and informants and putting pressure on authorities to help restrict Christian evangelism. 

At least six churches have been forced to close when asked to provide their license and authorization, even though none is required at this point.

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This may be, in part, due to the increasing number of articles in the newspaper focusing on the growth of the Christian church. Government informants have attended church services and later reported in detail, putting pressure on Christians.

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One group of three Christians is accused of insulting Islam and evangelizing Muslims. They face prison time and fines. Another believer, who was detained last summer, is told that he will serve at least one year in prison. This case is similar to several others in which people who went through trials before without punishment are now being called for new trials.

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April 10,2008 Algeria (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence for “proselytism” yesterday amid an ongoing government crackdown on 26 of Algeria’s 50 Protestant congregations, a church leader said.

A court in Tiaret, 150 miles southwest of Algiers, delivered the written verdict yesterday after convicting the Christian on April 2, said Mustapha Krim, president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA). Prosecution of “proselytism” violates Article 18 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the inherent right to publicly manifest one’s faith.

The Christian, who requested anonymity, plans to appeal the two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000 (US$1,540) dinar fine, Krim said. Because it is suspended, the man will not have to serve his jail term unless he commits a repeat offense.

According to Krim, authorities brought charges against the man after he reluctantly gave a Bible to an undercover police officer who posed as someone interested in Christianity and insisted that he needed one.

Police have detained several other Christians in past weeks, apparently part of an effort to implement stringent regulations put in place two years ago to govern non-Muslim places of worship.

In addition to restricting church buildings and worship locations, the 2006 religion law also bans attempts to “shake the faith of a Muslim.”

“If you take this law to the extreme, it means that carrying more than one Bible is illegal,” said one long-time resident of Algeria who requested anonymity.

On March 29 police detained a Christian woman for 24 hours when they discovered she was carrying six books about Christianity during a routine check on the outskirts of Tiaret. Christian sources reported that she is scheduled to appear before a judge on May 7.

Two Christian men traveling by public bus from Tizi Ouzou to Bjaia on the evening of March 21 also were detained by police after they were found with 11 Bibles. The men were held for 24 hours and then released.

Accelerated Church Closures

Authorities in Algeria have accelerated church closures, with half of the country’s Protestant congregations now ordered to cease all activity, Christian support organization Open Doors reported today.

The Holland-based organization reported that 26 congregations have now been given orders to close. At least 16 belong to the EPA, which counts 32 members, while another 10 are from approximately 20 small independent house groups that exist around the country.

During an interview on national television on March 30, Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah claimed to be closing churches for not functioning “according to the law.”

He said that the churches would be allowed to reopen after conforming to government regulations. But several congregations report that they have decided to reopen their doors after multiple attempts to meet official regulations have failed to produce government approval.

“We have done everything, and we are conformed to what the religious minister said, and the provincial governor,” said one member of the Full Gospel church in south Tizi-Ouzou. “The result is nothing for the moment.”

The congregation has continued meetings despite an order to close their doors last month, prompting a visit from local police during their weekly meeting last Friday (April 4).

Seven policemen and a policewoman approached the church pastor at the end of the service at 1 p.m. to deliver written notice for the Christians to cease all activity. The officers apologized for interrupting the individual prayer that the pastor and other elders were carrying out for members of the 400 Christians in attendance but re-ordered the church to close down.

The head pastor immediately went to the local police station and explained why the congregation had decided to continue meeting. Police noted the explanation and again told the pastor to cease all activity before letting him go.

Other churches have faced similar difficulties in obtaining government approval for their activities.

“There was another church who went 11 times to the provincial governor and each time he sent them to get this paper or that paper, and so on,” a member of the Full Gospel church said.

In an April 1 statement, Krim responded to accusations by Algeria’s religious affairs minister that their congregations were not real churches, “only houses and garages disguised as churches and not in accordance with the law.”

“The honorable minister had forgotten to mention that our historic places of worship have been confiscated in order to transform them into mosques, into pharmacies, into museums and even into trade union headquarters,” Krim wrote.

Krim called on authorities to return church properties confiscated by the government after large numbers of Christians left the country when it gained independence in 1962.

Krim’s predecessor, former EPA president and 74-year-old U.S. citizen Hugh Johnson, left Algeria on March 26 after he was ordered to leave the previous month.

His appeal remains before an Algerian court.

April 16,2008 Algeria (Compass Direct News) – Following an increase in church closures and convictions of Christians in Algeria this year, a United Nations body this week questioned Algerian delegates on an “alarming deterioration” of religious freedom there.

Participants at Monday’s (April 14) Human Rights Council review in Geneva cast the issue of religious rights abuses in Algeria into the spotlight.

“A decree of April 2006 … seems to criminalize any initiative to convert Muslims to another religion or to shake the faith of a Muslim,” said a Belgian representative during the U.N. body’s Universal Periodic Review.

Article 18 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the inherent right to publicly teach or manifest one’s faith, but Algeria’s 2006 decree threatens up to five years imprisonment and a 1 million dinar (US$15,430) fine for anyone attempting to convert a Muslim to another religion. Producing, possessing or distributing material for this purpose warrants the same punishment.

“The execution of this decree has given rise to a number of convictions and expulsions of religious persons,” said Jochen De Vylder of Belgium.

On April 9 an Algerian court handed a Christian convert a two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000 dinar (US$1,540) fine for “proselytism.” According to leaders of Algeria’s Protestant church, the Tiaret resident had been charged after giving a Bible to an undercover policeman who repeatedly asked for the book.

A Vatican representative questioned the delegates on how the decree could be reconciled with religious freedom, enshrined in Article 36 of Algeria’s constitution.

“[The decree] de facto has limited the rights of all other religions except the majority religion,” Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi said. De Vylder called on Algeria to suspend application of the 2006 decree and to review the law’s text.

In response to the criticisms, Algerian delegate Lazhar Soualem claimed that the new laws were established to stop the abuse of religion. He said the legislation was meant to halt “the exploitation of circumstantial problems and various ways of seducing in the name of freedom of religion.”

Soualem said the 2006 decree had been enacted to stop “people who are not skilled, and who are not qualified and who are not authorized to exercise religious rights.”

His comments appeared to reinforce complaints that religious freedom in Algeria was subject to arbitrarily imposed conditions, rather than being an inalienable right for all citizens.

Soualem acknowledged that the 2006 decree restricted legitimate religious activities.

“The right to religious rights is a right based on the law,” Soualem said. “Exercise of religious rights takes place in a legal context, must be done in places known by associations which are recognized.”

Algerian Protestant leaders have long complained that the government has refused to tell them how to bring their church meetings into conformity with the 2006 decree. Congregations attempting to bring their churches into conformity have had their re-registration applications denied with no explanation or with vague generalizations, or the petitions have been delayed on bureaucratic pretexts.

Last week, Protestant Church of Algeria President Mustapha Krim reported that 26 Protestant churches had been ordered to close, many of them based on the 2006 decree. Several congregations have continued meeting despite closure orders after their attempts to re-register failed.

In January, a French Catholic priest visiting Cameroonian migrants on the Moroccan border was given a one-year suspended sentence for praying in a place not sanctioned for worship.

Accountability as ‘Attack’

The crackdown on churches has been accompanied by a media campaign warning of a widespread “attack” on Islam by Christian evangelists in Algeria.

The nation’s religious affairs minister claimed on March 17 that Christians were trying to establish a minority in the country in order to give foreign powers the pretext to intervene in Algeria’s affairs.

Attempts by foreign nations to call out Algeria on religious rights violations have only fueled local press reports that Algeria is under attack.

“European campaign accusing Algeria of religious freedoms persecution,” headlined an April 13 article on daily el-Khabar’s English website.

But European Christians and other rights watchdogs believe that foreign nations must hold Algeria accountable for its treatment of religious minorities.

“France subsidizes the country for oil and gas, but we don’t get anything back in terms of human rights,” said Gregor Puppinck of the Strasbourg-based European Center for Law and Justice. The center briefed participating Human Rights Council members on the status of Algeria’s religious freedom prior to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

During the three-hour UPR on Monday, delegates from 45 countries interacted with Algerian representatives on a number of issues, including women’s and children’s rights, torture, and freedom of press and belief.

The newly formed UPR is a mechanism of the U.N. Human Rights Council, designed to review rights record’s of each of the worlds 192 nations, at a rate of 48 per year.

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April 17, 2008 Algeria (Elkhabar)-The Kingdom of Belgium has called the Algerian government to amend the law on the religious practices by non Muslim communities. It estimates that the law has contributed to “the deterioration” of the religious freedom in Algeria. This intervened in an audience held by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday dedicated to discuss the recommendations of a set of European and Latin American countries on the situation of human rights in Algeria.

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April 24, 2008 Algeria  (BosNewsLife)-- Following church closures and convictions of Christians in Algeria this year, a United Nations body has questioned Algerian delegates on an “alarming deterioration” of religious freedom here, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, April 24.

Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency, said the Human Rights Council review in Geneva cast the issue of "religious rights abuses in Algeria" into the spotlight.

Under a religious law adopted in 2006, anyone attempting to convert a Muslim to another religion could face up to five years imprisonment and a 1 million dinar ($15,430) fine. Producing, possessing or distributing material for this purpose warrants the same punishment.

In one of the latest incidents, an Algerian Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence on April 9 for giving a Bible to an undercover police officer. The written verdict convicting the Christian for "proselytism" was delivered on April 2 by a court in Tiaret, 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Algiers, Christian said. .

The believer, who wished to remain anonymous, gave the Bible to the policeman who posed as someone interested in Christianity and insisted in obtaining a copy of the Scriptures, said Voice Of the Martyrs, a group representing reportedly persecuted Chrjstians. He plans to appeal the suspended sentence, which includes a fine of 100,000 dinars ($1540). Christians said.

Vatican Critics

In Geneva, a Vatican representative questioned the delegates on how Algeria's religious legislation could be reconciled with religious freedom, enshrined in Article 36 of Algeria’s constitution.

"[The decree] de facto has limited the rights of all other religions except the majority religion," Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi said in comments published by Compass Direct News.

Algerian delegate Lazhar Soualem reportedly said in response that the 2006 decree had been enacted to stop "people who are not skilled, and who are not qualified and who are not authorized to exercise religious rights."

However several church leaders have said the law targets churches and a growing number of missionaries and evangelists in the country.

April 24,2008 Algeria (El Khabar)-Algeria is in face of plan aiming creating a minority group on which some powers will rely, when interfering in Algeria’s home affairs, said human rights activists, adding that NGO’s has seized the unstable security situation in Algeria, pushing for foreign interference.

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He further said that the NGO’s are working on the “minority groups projects,” citing the case of Darfur region, in Sudan, and Tibet in China, while pointing out that the events the Kabylia region experienced in 2001, numerous foreign parties managed seizing them to justify their interference intentions, adding that the reports released during the last couple of years branding the minority Christians group persecution, have the same objective.

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April 24, 2008 Iraq (CNA) - Speaking to the SIR news agency, Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad said this week, “I am pleased to hear that some countries in the European Union have opened their doors to Iraqi Christian refugees, but it is also necessary to work so that Christians do not keep leaving Iraq.”

Bishop Warduni warned, “There is a risk that there will no longer be any Christians in the country if we do not work to guarantee their security and stability, as with the rest of the population.”

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April 29, 2008 Algeria (BBC News)-One of the most remarkable archive sequences we came across while researching the Age of Terror programme, features a seven-year-old Algerian boy called Abdelkahar Belhadj. He is seen addressing a political rally of thousands in 1991 with all the confidence and fire of a mature adult.

"There are a billion Muslims and we don't have a state that rules by God's Holy Law. Isn't that a dishonour and a shame on us?" he proclaims in the voice of a child.

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Algeria's 'intifada'

By the late 1980s, 40% of the country's population of 24 million were under the age of 15. Many were in school preparing for jobs that did not exist.

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They were angry and frustrated, providing the rich soil in which a brand of militant, fundamentalist Islam could flourish.

Neighbourhood mosques became the focus for discontent with clerics building support not just through fiery sermons but through practical support, running soup kitchens and providing food, clothing and welfare.

In 1988, Algeria exploded in the month known as Black October. Ali Belhadj organised a demonstration of 20,000 Islamist supporters who were stopped in their tracks by the military that effectively ran the regime.

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The fuse was lit. Algeria's intifada had begun, the launchpad for political Islam.

Cancelled elections

In 1991, to try and head off further violence, the regime agreed to free multi-party elections, for the first time since independence.

The result of the first round shocked the government, which had fatally underestimated the growing strength of the Islamist parties. The Islamic Salvation Front won the first round with a clear majority.

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The Islamists, who did not believe in parliamentary democracy, had made it clear that once in power there would be no more multi-party elections, as the state would thereafter be governed under Sharia law.

Terrorism grew out of the anger and frustration that followed the government's cancellation of the election. Cadres of militant Islamists coalesced as the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group, became convinced that political Islam had failed and violence was the only way to effect change.

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Air France hijack

The years between 1993 and 1997 are among the most bloody in Algeria's tortured history.

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Exporting jihad

According to the French anti-terrorist judge, Jean Louis Bruguière, the hijacking marked the beginning a new and ominous phase in Algeria's jihad.

"The GIA decided to make a strategic step in 1994, not only to fight inside Algeria which is their home ground battlefield but to export violence outside," he said.

"Algeria was only the first base for a much larger strategy to promote jihad as a tool to have a worldwide Caliphate regime in the future. The same as al-Qaeda," he added.

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April 30, 2008 Algeria (Elkhabar)-The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Algeria, Henri Tessier said Tlemcen western province court has eased the sentence issued against a priest preaching in Algeria, to only 2 months last April.19 rather than 12 months imprisonment stated by Maghnia court last January. He has been charged with practicing religious rites in an inappropriate place.

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