Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0009/00098.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 35KB | 536 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00098}
$Pretitle{244}
$Title{Algeria
Chapter 5A.   National Security}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Frederick Ehrenreich}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{algerian
government
algeria
moroccan
national
boumediene
security
military
ch
political}
$Date{1985}
$Log{Soldiers*0009801.scf
}
Country:     Algeria
Book:        Algeria, A Country Study
Author:      Frederick Ehrenreich
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1985

Chapter 5A.   National Security

[See Soldiers: People's National Army]

     Although born in a bloody revolution against French colonial rule and
gripped by bitter infighting among the nationalist victors in the first years
after independence, Algeria in the mid-1980s could be characterized as the
most stable country in North Africa. More than any other individual, the
architect of Algerian stability had been former president Houari Boumediene,
who ruled for nearly 14 years after coming to power in a military coup he
called a "revolutionary correction." Although he relied heavily upon and was
supported by the military, Boumediene did not establish a military
dictatorship; instead he concentrated on strengthening political and economic
institutions and reinforcing civilian norms of government. His success was
demonstrated by the peaceful transfer of power to President Chadli Bendjedid
after Boumediene's death in late 1978.

     Under Bendjedid, a former senior military officer, Algerian confidence
was displayed in the relaxation of the strict social controls imposed by the
authoritarian Boumediene. Security surveillance became less obtrusive,
political prisoners were released, and former revolutionary leaders who had
fallen out of official favor were "rehabilitated." Although opposition from
within the ruling elite could never be entirely ruled out, in 1985 there did
not appear to be any obvious threats to Bendjedid's regime. Over the longer
term, difficulties stemming from the unfulfilled economic expectations of a
growing population, Berber nationalism, radical Islamic opposition, and the
aging of the revolutionary generation could increase, but in the mid-1980s
domestic security was not a serious problem.

     Algerian leaders were more troubled by national security problems beyond
the national borders. Since independence, an ideology inherited from the long
anticolonial struggle had been reflected in the revolutionary leadership's
general distrust of the former colonial powers of the West and in its support
for national liberation movements it regarded as legitimate. Although
Algeria's relations with the West appeared to have improved, its strategic
position in the Maghrib had become somewhat uncomfortable. Algerian leaders,
already irritated by Morocco's long-standing claims to certain Algerian
territory, had become more concerned by the Moroccan struggle to annex the
Western Sahara and by its 1984 alliance with Libya that was construed to be
aimed at Algeria.

     In the mid-1980s Algeria had large, well-equipped military and police
forces to contend with potential foreign and domestic threats. The People's
National Army included ground forces, an air force, and a navy as well as the
National Gendarmerie that was mainly used as a police force in rural areas. In
addition to security duties, military officers played a conspicuous role in
the top echelons of the government, and the armed forces were widely used in
rural economic development projects. The Algerian military's contributions to
national development had been well documented, but the ability of the force to
defend the country was unknown.

External Security Problems and Policies

     The Algerian leadership's perceptions of the outside world-including its
views on what constitutes a threat to national security-have historically been
strongly influenced by ideology. The impact of the war for independence upon
the national experience contributed to a set of beliefs that has emphasized
Algeria's identification with the newly independent, economically
underdeveloped countries of the Third World. Dividing the globe into the rich
industrial nations of the North and the poor, former colonies of the South,
Algerian leaders have continually stated their strong opposition to what they
see as world capitalism, imperialism, Zionism, colonialism, and the domination
of the world economy by the former colonial powers (see Foreign Relations, ch.
4). By definition, then, these attitudes have implied a measure of suspicion
and hostility toward the capitalist states of Europe and North America, and
sympathy for liberation movements whose struggles mirror Algeria's own.

     In the 1980s ideology remained a significant component of the Algerian
national security outlook. The views shaped by the revolution, however, were
tempered by more than two decades of experience as a sovereign state as well
as by Bendjedid's cautious style. At the same time, Algerian external security
interests had become more oriented toward the Maghrib because of the
continuing political and territorial disputes with neighboring Morocco and
Libya.

Security Interests Outside the Maghrib

     Under Ahmed Ben Bella, independent Algeria's first president, the
government became extremely active in supporting a host of anticolonial
struggles throughout Africa. Algeria became a leading contributor to the
African Liberation Committee of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which
was designed to coordinate and aid African liberation movements. In 1963 the
government trained 1,000 guerrillas from Mozambique, South Africa, and Angola.
More controversially, Ben Bella's government also sponsored efforts to
overthrow independent African governments that were considered to be
reactionary or too closely linked to the former colonial powers. Notably,
during this time the Algerians supported insurgencies against the governments
of Congo-Leopoldville (present-day Zaire), Niger, and neighboring Morocco. Ben
Bella's activism, however, was ineffectual in weakening the opponents at which
it was aimed. Critics charged that his stance was merely symbolic, designed to
enhance the president's prestige among the so-called radical bloc of African
and Asian states and, by extension, to bolster his political position within
Algeria.

     After Ben Bella was overthrown, the Boumediene government turned its
attention to domestic development issues and limited its direct involvement in
destabilizing foreign governments. As a matter of principle, however, the new
regime soon started giving assistance to a number of revolutionary groups and
liberation movements and allowed their representatives to operate in Algiers.
These groups included liberation movements opposed to the rulers of the
Portuguese African colonies, Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), South
Africa, South Vietnam, Palestine, and others. The international terrorist
called Carlos was reportedly among those granted sanctuary and support in
Algeria in the 1970s, along with persons affiliated with Italy's Red Brigades,
the Federal Republic of Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang, and other groups.
Between 1970 and 1972, the Algerian government also supported the Black
Panthers, an organization composed of American blacks opposed to the political
leadership of the United States (see United States, ch. 4). In addition to
granting financial help, political asylum, or government protection to
liberation movements, the Algerian leadership usually allowed aircraft
hijackers to land in Algeria and often granted them asylum until, under
international pressure, Boumediene abandoned the practice in 1978. In some
cases this tolerance reflected Algerian support for the politics of the
hijackers, particularly those connected with the Palestinian opposition to the
state of Israel.

     An important element of Algerian security policy has been the
leadership's attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinian
nationalists-attitudes that were underscored by Algiers' military commitments
during the Middle East wa