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Al-Sharq al-Awsat Publishes British Intelligence Files About Algerian Civil War

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Al-Sharq al-Awsat Publishes British Intelligence Files About Algerian Civil War

Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper published a number of British secret files, including information that is attributed to French ministers and officials who were involved in the bloody crisis in Algeria at the time, which show that “Algerian regime was about to fall and the Islamists will control the power”.

“Hundreds of thousands of refugees will flow from Algeria to southern France. Domino stones will begin to fall, one by one. If Algeria falls into the hands of armed groups, Tunisia will also be threatened and Morocco as well, even Egypt itself will not survive the repercussions of Algeria. This is the story of French wrong estimates to the situation in Algeria in the nineties of the last century”.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat said the secret British intelligence reports quoted senior French officials who drew a very bleak picture of the situation in Algeria in 1994.

These reports, which were declassified in the British National Archives, revealed on Saturday, that the French told the British that they Expect the collapse of Algerian rule and the arrival of the Islamists to power, and that they are preparing plans to receive 500.000 Algerian refugees who are are expected to flee their country.

According to the newspaper, this was the first time, as believed, that French officials were quoted as being so pessimistic about the situation in Algeria and the “fighting” mechanisms that were going on between government forces and armed groups.

British government documents show that French officials said their assessment was that the government of President Liamine Zeroual would not be able to withstand long in the face of armed Islamists and would be replaced by the Islamic Salvation Front, which, after stopping the electoral process and imprisoning its political leadership, thousands of its supporters joined various armed groups.

The British documents, in this context, speak about the complaint of the French from activity of Algerian Islamists on British territory. In reference to what the French considered to be lenience by their neighbors in dealing with the phenomenon of terrorism which later became known as «Londonistan».

The complaint was then led by French Interior Minister, Charles Pasqua, who was known for his hard-line stance on dealing with the security threat that is associated with Algerian Islamists, because he was a minister in a right-wing government that was led by Edouard Balladur, (Rally for the Republic), while President Francois Mitterrand was a leftist socialist.

The British documents explain that taking a tough stand in dealing with the terrorist threat is gaining popularity in France, which was preparing for presidential elections for that next year, elections that actually resulted in the arrival of the right wing to power, but through Jacques Chirac, not Pasqua or Balladur.

British reports were written at a time when France was in a state of turmoil because of threats by the GIA, which had killed five French nationals, including two consular officials, in an attack on the suburb of Ainallah, west of the capital, Algiers.

British documents also quoted French officials as saying that President Liamine Zeroual did not accept Mitterrand’s invitation to attend ceremonies marking the anniversary of the allies landing in southern France during the Second World War because he feared a military coup against him during his absence from Algeria.

Al Shark Al Awsat concluded its article that the Algerian government had finally proved the wrong French estimates; “His security forces succeeded in defeating the armed groups by 1997, but the French fear of terrorist acts was soon achieved”.

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