DESTINATION ALGERIA
Algeria had a violent divorce from France during the 1960s, which saw the birth of Islamic militant groups. But the Algerian generals have proven that it's not only US presidents and busloads of German tourists who have differences with Islamic militants; in 1992 the army-appointed Haut Conseil d'Etat (HCE) stepped in and cancelled elections in which the previously outlawed Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) were set to romp home to victory.
The enforcers in the FIS didn't take that sitting down, and tens of thousands of people have now been killed in a mindless cesspool of massacre and counter-massacre. The army has been accused and implicated in joining in; the populations of whole villages have had their throats slit, as have hapless foreigners in the wrong place at the wrong time. Diplomatic missions have packed up and gone home. Vast areas of the countryside are lawless. The international community continues to wring its hands, but the situation rolls on unchecked. Don't go to Algeria unless you're on a death-wish or can afford paramilitaries to protect you.
