Torn by conflicting emotions, Algerians voted patchily yesterday on a peace plan presented by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as the only way of turning the page on the country's bloody recent past. Provided they were not involved in rape and mass killings, Mr Bouteflika's charter for peace and national reconciliation grants a pardon to militant Islamists who rose up against the army-backed regime in 1992 after it cancelled their victory in legislative elections.The charter praises the army for its role in protecting state institutions during the civil war and draws a line under nagging questions about its own role in alleged atrocities. For this reason it has incensed the families of thousands of suspected Islamist sympathisers who disappeared during the war. Most are unsure to this day what happened to their loved ones.
Mr Bouteflika hopes that by offering an amnesty, he can draw down from the mountains at least some of the residual fighters from an al-Qaeda affiliated group known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). By 2000, the war had largely run its course once thousands of militants were killed, jailed or pardoned after surrendering on the terms of a previous truce. But officials estimate a hard core of around 1,000 fighters are still at large, making it difficult for Mr Bouteflika to claim stability has fully returned. Some militants have reportedly grouped in anticipation of a Yes vote by the population. Others have pronounced their determination to fight on in a string of recent attacks in the rugged east of the country.
Mr Bouteflika is counting on a high turnout to legitimise his plan, which would give him sweeping powers for implementation. The signs yesterday were mixed. Many Algerians do want to put the past behind them and think the administration should focus now on tackling social problems exacerbated by the war such as unemployment and housing. But at the small agricultural town of Rais, outside Algiers, where some 400 people including many women and children were butchered by suspected Islamists in 1997, there seemed little appetite for an amnesty. A few men and women trickled in to vote, saying they were responding to the nation's needs, but the official there said that by midday turnout was only 13 per cent, compared with about 30 per cent at the same time in last year's presidential election.
In the nearby town of Blida, about 30 women who lost family members in attacks by armed groups protested by burying their voting cards by the graves of their loved ones. Others, including many of those affected by the Rais massacre, protested silently by boycotting the vote. Mr Bouteflika's critics among human rights activists fear he will use popular endorsement of the charter to close down opposition and enshrine impunity. Others fear that memories of the horrors of Algeria's civil war are too fresh and that burying them will sow the seeds of future discord.