ALGERIA-SOUTH AFRICA: Mandela Makes Amends For Meeting Islamist

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Neila Nassim

ALGIERS, Feb 23 1996 (IPS) - Algiers prepared for a visit from South African envoy Aziz Pahad this weekend — part of Pretoria’s intensive efforts to make amends for president Nelson Mandela’s meeting with a high-profile member of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) at his Cape Town home last week.

Algerian president Liamine Zeroual strongly protested after Mandela’s meeting with exiled FIS official Anouar Haddam, an encounter that Algiers called “unfriendly” and “ill-judged”.

The Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement that Mandela had spoken with Zeroual over the phone, and provided a “satisfactory explanation,” but added that that Pahad, the South African deputy foreign affairs minister, would bring with him a letter to explain the ‘misunderstanding’ over the meeting.

And though Algeria had dropped its threat to withdraw its ambassador to South Africa Said Kitouni in protest, he was still scheduled to return to Algiers Friday ‘for consultations’ after talks with South African Deputy Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Frederik de Klerk.

Further conciliation steps are expected to be taken on the fringes of Monday’s 63rd ordinary session of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa.

After Zeroual’s public criticism of the meeting on Tuesday night Mandela phoned Zeroual, and Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo met ambassadors from 12 Islamic countries, including Algeria, on Wednesday. A spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria defended the Haddam meeting, saying it had been “in the context” of South Africa’s stance on democracy and human rights.

He blamed Haddam for “misrepresenting” the nature of the contact. Immediately after the meeting, Haddam’s office in Washington issued a statement on FIS headed saying Haddam had had urged Mandela to approach the Organisation of African Unity and convince it of the urgent need for “a global, political and just solution to the Algerian crisis”.

Haddam’s claim to speak for the FIS is contested by the FIS parliamentary delegation in exile in Bonn, Germany, led by Rabah Kebir. They claim sole right to speak for jailed FIS leaders Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj. The Algiers authorities have always regarded Madani and Belhadj as the true source of power in the FIS.

The conflict in Algeria, estimated to have claimed between 30,000 and 50,000 lives, began after the military intervened in January 1992 to cancel the second round of general elections the now- outlawed FIS was poised to win.

Haddam, a self-proclaimed Islamic leader in exile who lives in the U.S., drew similar fire on Sweden earlier this month after he spoke out against the Zeroual government a press conference in Sweden. He heads the so-called FIS “parliamentary delegation” of candidates who had already won seats in the first round of the annulled elections.

Algeria is strongly opposed to outside intervention in their crisis. Its foreign ministry described the meeting between Mandela and Haddam as unacceptable interference in Algeria’s internal affairs and pointed out that Algeria had supported the African National Congress in its years of struggle against apartheid.

It appears the diplomatic protests were designed to ensure that the FIS did not use contact with Mandela to gain the moral high ground in its relations with the Algerian government. One analyst said: “They [the government in Algiers] are giving the signals that they want to talk, but it’s really that they want to talk on their own terms.”

But South Africa’s official policy towards North Africa has historically been shaped by the apartheid government’s close ties with Israel and a popular ignorance of politics in other countries of the region. Good relations between the two countries are new: Algiers opened its Pretoria embassy after South Africa’s 1994 elections, and earlier this month, during a visit to Algeria, Nzo announced his department would reciprocate and send an ambassador to Algiers.

The crisis blew up at a time when Algeria is counting on South Africa for support on joint projects in mining and oil. Nzo went to Algiers only last month, shortly after a visit by Pik Botha, the minister responsible for mines and energy.

Zeroual’s clear victory in last November’s elections had raised hopes of an easing of the conflict, as he promised to continue to attack armed militants while extending dialogue with Islamist groups. Yet there has been little progress in talks.