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- <text>
- <title>
- Algeria: Global Terrorism
- </title>
- <article>
- <hdr>
- Patterns Of Global Terrorism: 1991
- Middle Eastern Overview: Algeria
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Algeria has condemned international terrorism but considers
- some acts of violence by movements of national liberation to be
- legitimate. As an expression of this position, Algeria has
- refused to sign numerous international agreements intended to
- counter acts of terrorism. The Algerian Government permits a
- number of radical groups, including some that have been
- involved in terrorism, to maintain a presence in Algeria. This
- has occasionally led to security incidents (for example, the
- April 1990 attack by the Abu Nidal organization (ANO) on an ANO
- dissident and a bomb explosion at a PLO office in Algiers in
- the spring of 1991). Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) leader
- Abu Abbas and a few other Palestinians affiliated with
- terrorist organizations attended the September 1991 meeting of
- the Palestinian National Council in Algiers, but the Algerian
- Government made it clear that it would not tolerate terrorist
- activities on its territory.
- </p>
- <p> In March a lone armed hijacker took over an Air Algerie
- flight on the ground in Algiers, holding its 44 passengers and
- six crewmen hostage. The hostages were released unharmed a few
- hours later. In October an Algerian court handed down 10-year
- prison sentences to two men responsible for a similar hijacking
- in late December 1990.
- </p>
- <p> Algeria was thrown into an internal political crisis in late
- December 1991 when Muslim fundamentalists won an overwhelming
- victory in the first round of National Assembly elections and
- were poised to win the second round and gain a majority in the
- Assembly. Since President Bendjedid's resignation, the
- suspension of the second round of elections, and the crackdown
- on the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) by the military, there has
- been a serious upsurge in violent clashes between Islamist
- elements and the security forces.
- </p>
- <p>Source: United States Department of State, April 1992.
- </p>
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-