Newly re-elected Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika took the oath of office on Monday, embarking on a second term that he said will be devoted to the quest for ”true national reconciliation” in war-torn Algeria.
Peace and reconciliation ”will allow Algerians … to devote their energy and resources to the development” of the North African country, Bouteflika said.
The president’s landslide re-election on April 8 is attributed largely to the ”civil reconciliation” plan he unveiled shortly after first coming to power in 1999, under which several thousand Islamic extremist fighters surrendered in exchange for partial amnesty.
The civil war that raged for the decade between 1992 and 2002, and is now sharply diminished, claimed at least 100 000 lives, according to official figures, and up to 150 000 by independent counts.
Hardline extremist fighters of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, and the Armed Islamic Group have rejected Bouteflika’s offer, but are thought to be weakening.
About 140 people have died in fighting or attacks in the ongoing conflict this year.
Bouteflika said the continuing struggle against Islamic extremist militancy will be ”in the framework of the international mobilisation against terrorism”. — Sapa-AFP