Interview- FIS ex-member: Boukhemkhem, Djeddi, Hachani and Redjam misled Abbassi (part 5)

(part 5)

During the Gulf War, it was said that large quantities of donated blood for Iraqis had been transferred to France.

The donated blood issue was no more than a slip of the tongue from Abbassi Madani in a news conference ahead of municipal elections. A stupid man saw some laboratory platelets in a hospital. He thought they were blood but they were not. He told Abbassi the Algerian blood was smuggled to France. Abbassi should have checked whether it was true or not but he didn’t. He talked about that in his first news conference. It was a scandal. Later on, investigations showed that what that stupid man saw was not blood.

How did the FIS control marches?

Most of the members of the party’s consultation council were against political strikes and violence.

Some believed that Ali Belhadj was pushing for extremism.

Belhadj did not agree with Abbassi. His way of speaking was violent. Because of that, people thought he was violent. He accepted dialogue and was courageous to correct his mistakes. He is a sincere man compared to Abbassi.

Are authorities responsible for violent events as well?

Certainly, there was a conspiracy against the FIS. The party had enemies which did not want it to reach power. Any party should be careful about its attitudes. When speeches are delivered without any mistake, enemies will not have any chance. Those who have power will do their best to prevent you from reaching it. Competitive parties will fight to not let you reach power as well. A third type of people is those who ignore the party. They will stand by the enemies if they notice mistakes or they will support the party if they find it wise.

What about those who tried to give a bad image about the FIS?

The government did its best to prevent the FIS from reaching power. We saw how the law on elections was made by the government in favor of the FLN. They were stupid and people punished them. The FIS won and eminent commands in the FLN lost voices in many provinces. The law on elections was supposed to result from consultations but it was prepared by advisers at the government. The law was approved by the FLN’s deputies who thought they would win.

Does the electoral fraud is faced by inciting people to violence?

If the FIS had political conscience and a future strategic vision, we would have run for the elections whatever the laws were. We did not have the experience which would enable us to form a government able to handle the ongoing disaster in the country. As far as I am concerned, we should not have control on the government. The country experienced difficult conditions and it was not easy to bear the responsibility at that time. In Italy, for example, socialists won. They needed 4 seats to get the majority to form the government. They negotiated with the communist party which won 4 seats only. They told them they would give them some ministries if they joined them in Parliament. The communist party accepted the deal but without getting ministries. They asked for veto right in law making. This is the efficient political participation which contributes in building the State. Unfortunately, we did not have this political culture in the FIS. Abbassi Madani seized the opportunity to fuel the situation.

So, you hold Abbassi responsible.

In the first meeting of the consultation council after the promulgation of the law on elections, we agreed on everything. Abbassi Madani tried to manipulate the situation. First, he said we would threaten power only to change the law and if it did not react to our threats, we will run for the elections with the same law. That was our deal. Abbassi assigned Ali Djeddi and Hachani to prepare a release in that sense.

Why didn’t you face Abbassi Madani with those facts?

We did that but Abbassi insisted on the decision of going on a political strike. He attacked us publically in his popular rallied. He described us as traitors and spies for the regime. He influenced Ali Belhadj.

Do you mean that he put pressure on you using people fearing of being dismissed from the party?

In a TV talk, Mehri told him he was dismissed. He denied that. Actually, we wanted to protect the consultation council right in making decisions. Not any person can talk in the name of millions. Because of that, we issued a release which said decisions are only made by the consultation council. It was signed by more than 80 percent of the council members. We sent the release to media. When Abbassi heard about that, he contacted many newspapers close to him and prevented its publication. Yet, he could not prevent his broadcast on TV.

To be continued