Ahmed Zaoui: FIS does not want revenge

Senior member of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) Ahmed Zaoui said the front’s return is not a condition to solve the crisis neither did they suggest that to candidates to blackmail them. “The party’s leaders are ready to admit their errors within a serious political action and they do not seek vengeance,” he told Echorouk in an interview.

Some of the FIS’ leading members support Benflis and others are neutral while Abbasi and his followers boycott the elections. What are the reasons?

We believe that Algeria’s crisis can not be solved only through a dialogue between Algerians. It must be supervised by opposition parties represented in civil society, political parties. The State and its institutions belong to people.

We believe that the reject of the fourth term among society must be valorized as it is the start of changing power’s attitudes.

Many blame you for insisting on the FIS’ return. Why don’t you look for a new legal cover like what Turkey did?

We can compare Turkish democracy to power’s authoritarian practices in Algeria. Turkey is located in Europe and it is a member in the Atlantic Alliance. In Algeria, there is a political blockage.

Don’t you think that talking about the Reconciliation is part of the past now. The 1992’s crisis is not a serious event anymore compared to the rest of the crises which are waiting for a solution?

If you mean the Reconciliation established by the current regime, they are not complete as they did not involve those who were hit by the crisis neither political partners. Those reconciliations served one single part. It is a type of security solution. We need a real reconciliation in which all Algeria’s sons and political shareholders are involved.

The FIS did not announce support to armed action as a jihadist principle. Yet, your silence made some saying you were for the armed action. Because of that, the other civil part does not want to give you another chance.

The FIS was not directly involved in armed action and political violence. It saw that a part of it had to carry on armed action to defend its project and flee power’s violence. The FIS can not abandon this part.

Don’t you think that your call for a “transition phase” is a way to be along with your opponents in the regime who were part of the crisis?

Our decisions come from a political conviction. If a part does not agree with our opinion, this will not push us to give up our convictions. Our aim is the country’s interest and to get it out of its repeated troubles.