 Al Qaeda's North Africa wing has called on Algerians to boycott Thursday's parliamentary elections, which it condemned as a "farce", according to an audio tape aired by Al Jazeera television on Monday.
| "This election is just a farce like the other farces that Algeria faces." |
Some observers in Algeria expect the rebels, who claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings that killed 33 people in Algiers on April 11, to try to disrupt the polling on May 17. "This election is just a farce like the other farces that Algeria faces," said the speaker on the tape identified by Al Jazeera as Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, a leader of al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb. "If you participate in these elections, you would be taking part in a great abomination together with apostates," the speaker said. "I ask of you nothing but a boycott and refusal to vote."
| "If you participate in these elections, you would be taking part in a great abomination together with apostates." |
Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC, vowed last week to carry out more suicide bombings and urged Muslims to join its ranks as suicide bombers. The election for the 389-seat assembly has faced apathy among many Algerians who see the body as subservient to the country's powerful executive. |