Anniversary of Algerian Federation of people still missing since the country’s “black decade”

The pending file of those still missing since the so-called “black decade” of the nineties is still a thorn in the throat of the Algerian authorities, which have so far failed to address seriously this intricate file that still raises a lot of questions at home and abroad.

This vexed issue has prompted Algeria to convey this burning file last year officially to the United Nations Mission, which has promised to investigate, but the situation is still ambiguous, and the fate of more than 7,200 Algerians is still unknown after 9 years of the adoption of the law on the charter for peace and national reconciliation.

This protracted logjam has brought associations of the missing victims to establish the first National Federation for missing persons. It was inaugurated earlier this week in Algiers.

The Association’s founders vowed to further the struggle for the unveiling of the truth about those people still reported missing in Algeria for over 20 years now, and urged human rights organizations to plead actively for the settlement of this long-running file through a global mobilization of all well-meaning people and the relevant authorities.

In a statement to Echorouk, a spokesman for this Association made no secret of the “possible existence of mass graves of missing persons who haven’t appeared for more than 20 years, and estimated the number of the unaccounted for at more than 10,000, and this increased the suffering of thousands of families who still yearn each day to find out about the fate of their children”, he emphasized.”

The spokesman added that 40 percent of the families of the missing refused the authorities’ proposed financial compensation, estimated at 1 million dinars, by firmly demanding instead the retrieval of the bodies of their next of kin.