Jan Ewans for Danmarks Radio
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| Translation of "Horisont": Algeria |
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Start: 01.00.00
| Bouteflika election victory, Algerian TV pix of speeches |
| V/o: The Algerian people have taken to their charismatic leader; President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Elected under shady circumstances, he has now brought hope to the Algerian people for a new and brighter future. Bouteflika has surprisingly broken all taboos: he has declared war on corruption and nepotism and he has reached out a hand to fundamentalist groups and offered reconciliation and amnesty. Bouteflika has promised to make Algeria a state governed by law without torture or human rights violations - he has said he will limit the power of the military - and he is working at opening the country to the world. And not surprisingly the people are enthusiastic. |
01.55 | Pensioner | If God wishes, Bouteflika will take control of the country and create order and get the country on its feet again
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02.08 | Unemployed man | I have confidence in Bouteflika. This is the first time I voted.
I spend an hour every evening listening to him on TV Because I like him
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02.23 | Pensioner | God protects him, but he can't do anything without the people And we are fully and completely behind him
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02.35 | Jan Ewans |
| It is the masses and the poor that form Bouteflika's base. But he also finds support within political and social movements, which used to fight government policies. |
02.49
03.26
3.35
3.48
| Djamil Benrabah Centre for Victims of violence
3.00
3.16 | Bouteflika wants all the people behind him. He needs them.
No one else supports him but the common people.
So what he is doing at the moment is quite serious.
He is attacking the political-economic Mafia.
He is attacking the hidden power, the bureaucracy, the generals, the army.
He is attacking neighbouring countries - those who have more or less supported terrorism. He is attacking everybody.
- Do you support him on this?
Yes, we do.
- And why?
It's quite simple.
The reason for terrorism, the reason for our misfortune is due to the political-economic Mafia.
What we call "the suppressers"
We back him because otherwise we are lost But he mustn't disappoint us.
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3.56
04.16
4.40
| Omar Benchouet Managing director, the opposition newspaper El Watan | It is a land in complete shock - and in need of complete change. The Algerians are now waiting to see how he operates. and which political power he will support. - Is he moving forward too quickly? Now that you ask, he does move very quickly - too quickly. One gets the impression that it's a politician, who is racing against the clock like a racing cyclist.
All the speed Bouteflika has made me think that he is trying to flog the state apparatus - and the Algerian bureaucracy. He knows that the bureaucracy is very strong and has solid armour and it's like a boxer who can take punches. Whether he gets the last say or not - that's the big question.
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05.10
| Djamil Benrabah Centre for Victims of violence | I believe that President Bouteflika has perhaps come a little late. If he had been here two years ago maybe we wouldn't have suffered so much. |
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05.26 |
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| It has been a hot summer. The heat from The Sahara desert has hung over the cities and Bouteflika has been thundering from rostrums and TV-screens. |
05.37
| Student | He is the hope of us young Algerians. We expect a lot from him.
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05.45 | Butcher | He is good.
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05.47 | Major | He is a child of the people. He hasn't come down by parachute. He knows the people, comes from the people, and is made of the same stuff as the people. For twenty years he has wandered in the desert. He has seen how the people have suffered and now with the help of God, he will bring the Algerian people together and try to rebuild the country.
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06.11
| Butcher | - Do you agree with his peace policy? Yes, it is good.
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06.16 | Shop assistant | We are dead tired of all the problems. We are tired of the way things are in Algeria. We wish to be like the French, like the Europeans, like the Moroccans. The only thing we pray for is to be able to live in peace as Algerians.
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06.33
6.40 | Student | - What do you hope for?
To be able to live like other countries in peace.
To be able to eat, to go out, to travel abroad.
To do everything. That is what I hope for.
To be able to study, meet with my brothers and to come and go without problems.
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06.52 | Butcher | Everything is good in Algeria.
- And before?
Not as good. But now it's better here.
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07.00 | Dancer | He will bring safety to the country and get rid of this chaos so that we can avoid terrorism and our people will have a better life. |
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07.12 | Dancer | So we can get our smile back and regain the old Algeria. That is what we all hope for. |
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07.20 |
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Hello | But is it possible for one man to put the smile back on 30 million Algerian faces? We to visit the President in his stately palace. |
07.29
07.53
08.15
08.24
08.29
08.46
09.00
09.07
09.10
09.12
09.15
09.36
09.40
| Abdelaziz Bouteflika President | After having wandered for twenty years in the desert - I know what troubles Algerians.
I talk to them about it.
And it comforts them that I know their problems.
And it gives them hope that one day they will be solved - and we will do so.
- Why is a referendum necessary? I cannot imagine that the Algerian people, with their political maturity, can continue this cycle of massacre and self-destruction, which has taken place over almost eight years, as long as our fight for independence.
It is perfectly clear that the Algerian people, have had enough, just like they did in the fight for independence.
We must return to peace, security and stability.
It's a vital condition for carrying out our economic and social plans, and for us to raise our heads and be treated with more dignity.
And it is a condition in order to find a place in the international community.
This election verdict, this referendum is not a ordinary verdict or referendum. It is a major event.
One has to be aware of one fundamental point here.
The vote is on the 16th September.
But, that does not mean we will have peace on the 17th September.
The problems with security will still be there.
But the results will show me how far I can go with the eradication - and I mean eradication - of all those, who intend to keep disturbing the tranquillity - the security and the peace of the Algerian people.
Eight years of war.
Enough is enough. |
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09.43 |
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| The referendum question is simple: "Do you agree with the President's initiative for peace and reconciliation amongst the citizens?" The goal is to stop the infamous massacres that have plagued Algeria since the Islamic party FIS was banned in 1992. but there are sceptics. |
10.07
10.20
10.37 | Mostefa Bouchachi Lawyer for FIS | I don't believe Bouteflika- with his proposed law; will achieve a true reconciliation between Algerians. - Why not? Because nothing has been discussed with the political class - with the big parties, with the Islamists who won the 1991 election.
Those in power felt stronger in ‘95 - '94 when one simply said: Those who have taken up arms and committed acts of violence - I forgive them. |
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10.55
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| President Bouteflika has already released the first five thousand prisoners. However, most of them are not terrorists. They are either people sentenced on suspicion or those supporting terrorists with food and supplies.
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11.08
11.21
| Former F.I.S. Activist | - What crimes have you committed?
None as far as I know. And I was acquitted by the Algerian judicial system.
- What did the police say?
That I supported FIS.
I couldn't give them any information, not even to the security forces, even though I was brutally tortured. |
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11.45
| Jan Ewans - Stand up in "Death's Triangle" |
| We are in the area called "Death's Triangle" where the massacres have been most brutal in Algeria; a couple of hundred kilometres south of the capital, Algiers. Gradually terrorism is being defeated so it is almost safe to be here even though we still have 30 armed police with us. We are going to see the last of terror. |
12.12
| Rachida Tahraoui Orphan | There was blood all over, and so we fled. We sought refuge with a man on the second floor because he was armed. Those who stayed downstairs were shot and murdered.
Amongst them was my mother.
My father was shot somewhere around there.
My uncle was also shot there.
My brother fled but they caught him.
We yelled and screamed, but no one came to our rescue.
We opened the windows and shouted to the neighbours, but in vain.
There were not any military personnel.
It was not until a bomb went off that some military came. |
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12.54 | Farouk Tahraoui Orphan | When we arrived at the circumcision party the shooting began.
We thought it was the boy screaming and the women rejoicing.
We sat down but then the shooting started for real.
They forced their way into the house and shot.
A woman fell right in front of our eyes.
We fled up to the roof.
Afterwards they started murdering my mother and a couple of neighbours. |
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13.21
13.27
13.34
| Rachida Tahraoui Orphan | - Do you think the terrorism is over now?
No it is not.
- Will you forgive them?
No never.
They have made me an orphan and taken everything away from me.
- What do you feel being here, where you used to live?
We were fine here, but the place reminds me of my parents and my siblings that are dead.
It's awful to be here again.
I can't bare to look at it again.
I don't want to live here again. I am afraid. |
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14.00 |
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| In the massacre in Medea the three surviving children have been deserted by the authorities and receive no support. They now live in a garage.
Djamil Benrabah's wife was killed before his very eyes a few years ago. |
14.18 | Djamil Benrabah Centre for Victims of Violence | I do not want to vote, because I don't want to betray the memory of my wife.
She died an unjust death.
I don't know the reason, but I know who killed her.
I know why they killed her but I will always demand justice,
Justice must be served.
They must be convicted. |
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14.48 |
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| Zohra Hattab cannot forgive the terrorists who came to her home, where she slept with her children; hunting her brothers who are in the police. |
14.58
16.30
17.12
17.33
| Zohra Hattab Cleaner | I told them I am an only mother.
"If you have business with my brothers, just go to them."
But they said: "It is you we want."
I asked them why. They answered that I would be told later.
I hung on to the door.
One of them grabbed me and hit me.
He hit me all over, in my stomach and everywhere else.
They showed no pity and I cried and begged for mercy.
They tore off my clothes so I was lying naked.
One held my shoulders from behind whilst the other two took turns raping me.
I cried and begged for mercy, whilst my children were screaming and yelling.
I told them to at least consider my children.
I said they could not behave like this; what had I done to them?
I am just an only mother.
This is difficult for me to talk about.
I am frightened and feel miserable and cannot sleep at night.
I think about what happened all the time.
I really feel badly.
I am in a really poor state.
- Did you know them?
It was some neighbours.
I don't know them by name, only by sight.
But their names I don't know.
They are all terrorists, except my brothers.
I wish I was dead, so I did not have to look in my parents eyes.
My parents saw me in that condition..... I can't look my parents in the eyes anymore.
- How is your life now?
What kind of life is this? I can't cope anymore.
When people look at me I think they know all about it and are talking about it.
No matter who it is, I think they know.
It may not be right but that is how it feels.
- What do you think about them?
I will never forgive them.
If I had had a weapon I would have killed them. |
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17.43 |
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| Thousands of other women were raped in the terrorists holy war. For them the proposed new law, giving amnesty for murderers and rapists is hard to bear. |
17.53
18.02
18.19
18.29
18.31
18.34
| Abdelaziz Bouteflika President | - What you want with this law of reconciliation, is it to unite amnesty and justice?
You know, I am not strong enough to exert justice. Justice is a very serious matter - and it is up to God to exert justice.
Man is poorly situated to do so.
- I have just met some GIA terrorists who have surrendered. Are they to be pardoned?
Yes.
- Even though they have massacred women and children?
They are first to be put on trial. After that the will of the people will show what I can and cannot do.
I can't do anything until they have been put on trial.
I can't do anything for murderers, rapists and bombers. They must be tried first.
After that I will see how society reacts. |
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19.06 | Algerian TV - Thursday |
| The President's policy appears to be working. Last week 53 terrorists from the organisation GIA laid down their arms and surrendered to the authorities. The first pictures on Algerian TV show the bearded group; in a camp in the forest, closely following the speeches of Bouteflika on their transistor radios - and they liked what they heard. |
19.34 | Yahia GIA Leader | President Bouteflika has opened the door for national unification and reconciliation. |
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19.43 |
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| The next day we succeeded, as the first foreign TV crew, to gain access to the camp where the terrorists were interned.
Overnight all 53 had shaved their beards off, as a sign of surrender and return to an ordinary civil-existence.
Suddenly, they did not look so formidable. |
20.03 | Yahia GIA Leader | - Do you think you have lost the war?
It is not a question of winning or losing.
That is not at all what it is about.
- Why did you join the resistance?
So that the word of Allah would be victorious.
- What did you do in the resistance movement? - Did you attack people?
I refuse to answer. |
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20.30 |
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| We know that this group, no matter what they say, has taken part in civilian massacres. The group itself has women and children. These two children were born and brought up in a world which centred on cutting the throats of the Algerian people. We know that behind the newly shaven facade hides genuine terrorists. But it is doubtful they will be punished for their crimes. Before long they will probably be sitting with their old friends and acquaintances in the unemployment queues. |
21.02
21.22
21.28
21.30
22.09
22.27
| Hamza GIA Leader | We believed it was Jihad - and in every battle there are victims.
But when we realised it was anything but Jihad we ceased fighting.
Where there is fighting there will automatically be victims.
- Have you killed anyone?
No.
- Never?
No.
- So you are not a terrorist? - Are you a terrorist?
Regarding me, I thought it was Jihad we went into then.
Whatever you call it does not matter. You call it terrorism, we Jihad.
You can call me whatever you like: Terrorist or Mujahid. I believe I am Mujahid.
We stopped when the scribes taught us it was the wrong path.
- When do you think you can start to lead a normal life again?
As soon as possible. I am ready to be integrated into society, it's not a problem.
I will be able to return to society as if nothing has happened.
- Are you happy about Bouteflika's decision to grant you amnesty?
That is exactly what is needed.
We have to put the past behind us and start a new chapter as brothers. We are all Algerians and must live together in peace. |
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22.51 |
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| Peace is only the first step on a long road. Peace and reconciliation are difficult, as long as the economy is run by the Mafia, as long as social differences are so great. More than half the population are too young to vote, they cannot find work either. They live in the dreary slums in the suburbs of Algiers or in the shabby province towns, and they have no future unless Bouteflika can pull them out of the morass. |
23.16
Ends: 00.23.57 | Abdelaziz Bouteflika President
| I have never forgotten that there is unemployment, lack of housing, problems in education and healthcare.
I have not forgotten.
But it is clear that it does not serve any purpose to read Shakespeare if you have not learnt the alphabet.
The alphabet here is peace and security.
It serves absolutely no purpose to study King Lear or Hamlet if you don't know the alphabet.
And the alphabet right now is peace and security.
Without that we can achieve nothing. |
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