Armed Islamic Group [ Gia ]

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AS and A Level Politics

ARMED ISLAMIC GROUP   [  GIA   ]

PRESENTED TO : Dr. MARTIN  MILLS

PRESENTED BY : ANDLIB KHAN

Student ID NO : 04935048

ALGERIA AND THE THREAT OF ISLAMIST INSURGENTS

Radical Islam is not a novelty in post-colonial Algeria .Islam has long been associated with politics  in Algeria,served as a source of national identity and, as in so many other Muslim societies, was also the natural cultural rallying point of Algerian resistance to colonial control.The post-liberation Algerian state, despite its strong socialist orientation, explicitly recognised Islam in the constitution as a pillar of state and society. Ideologically the Algerian Muslim Fundamentalist are among the most radical in North Africa .Unlike their Egyptian or Tunisian counterparts they advocate a complete restructuring of society "in an attempt to realize the City of God on Earth." The emergence of the Islamic movement in Algeria has largely been attributed to the disillusionment of the masses with the prolonged rule of the FLN.(National Liberation Front).The FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) the largest and most active political party ,was created in March 1989  in Algeria.It adopted a strategy to first win over municipalities(elections of 1990).and then create  an Islamic state ruled by the Sharia, Islam's sacred law . Since then religion and politics have played an intertwined and complex role in Algerian society. In the 1992, the first free elections since Algeria gained independence, the FIS decisively defeated the FLN. Shocked by the size of the Islamists' political victory and suspecting that President Benjedid had cut a deal with the FIS, the army ousted Benjedid on January 11, 1992, canceled the elections, banned the FIS. The military coup discredited the moderate wing of the FIS that had put such trust in electoral institutions as a way to bring about change. The resultant public outcry turned violent, and the paramilitary wing of the FIS began targeting security forces. This, along with the fact that many of the key leaders of the FIS were in prison, allowed more radical elements to rise to the fore, especially those who formed the Armed Islamic Group (GIA)..The GIA,The Armed Islamic Group (known by its French acronym, GIA) , a radical offshoot of Algeria’s main Islamist opposition  emerged as one of several radical FIS splinter factions that have continued to fight against Algeria’s FLN-supported, military-dominated regimes, from the government that ruled the country until 1999 to the current, more conciliatory leadership.  Despite GIA’s terrorism, the organisation nevertheless emerged as the leading insurgent organisation by mid-1994, embracing most Islamist insurgent groups in Algeria, apart from FIS’ armed wing, the Armée Islamique duSalut (AIS). The GIA called for a total war to establish an Islamic State; the AIS saw the political voilance as a means to reestablish an electoral process. Since then  politics and religious fundamentalism continue to remain in an uneasy and violent discourse in Algeria  .Both political action and religious fundamentalism have become tools of oppression, terror and a means of response to either side’s fundamentally unjust course of action.

IDEOLOGICAL  ROOTS OF GIA

        

The ideological roots of modern day Islamic fundamentalism   are not of recent origin.The Salafiyya current of islamic reform and purification  surfaced Maghrib in the period between two world wars . The insurgencies in Algeria provide Sunni example of a radical salafist movement.  The key attributes of these radical  salafist  movements are the glorification of the armed struggle to establish the islamist state by force  with an  intention to build a modern califate for the whole world . The creation of Muslim Brotherhood became the cornerstone for most of today's Islamist movements .At that time Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), a radical exegete  advocated jihad, or holy war, as a means to shake off the shackles of repressive secular regimes. The  Algerian Association of Muslim Ulemas (1931)   shared the same views as of Egyptian but never pushed the idea of an Islamic state.It The first instance of armed insurgency was undertaken by the Armed Islamic Movement (MIA), the official military wing of the FIS. Many religious parties,associations ,parties and organisations arose in post  -liberation Algerian   state  who rejected  the state’s monopoly on Islamic discourse, such as al-Qiyam ,FIS, Hamas and Nahda.Some of them based their strategy on direct political participation in national politics through the political socialisation and mobilisation of the masses but others( radical Islamic movements) composed of militant and hard-line groups seek the immediate transformation of both state and society through an insurgent strategy, such as the Armed Islamic Movement (MIA), the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS).

EMERGENCE OF GIA

The spectacular rise of GIA in Algeria stunned the Western media.The origins and  history of the Armed Islamic Group is somewhat obscure,but according to its spokesman,it was founded in 1989 and carried its first armed  operation in 1991..The group's  origin goes back to the so called bouyali group(1982-1987),which was the first islamist  armed ungerground organisation in algeria after independence.the bouyali advocated the idea that the armed struggle was the only of bringing about an islamic state. Bouyali was active with armed groups in 1982. After his death in 1987, his followers split into two groups; one led by Abdelkader Chebouti and Said Makloufi (formerly an FIS member), which became the MIA; and another, led by Mansouri Melliane, which were autonomous, nameless groups. After the 1992 events, Melliane's group joined with Mohammed Les Veillets (formerly an FIS member, who later established self-defense groups). The merger created many armed groups which called themselves Islamic, thence the name GIA.The end of Afghan War where many GIA guerillas had fought and release from the prison of bouyali's main comrade-in -arms al Mililani facilitated the formation of GIA movement. .It was afghanis  in Algeria, among them Mourad Sid Ahmed, who transformed  the relatively loose groups into a terrorist organization, with a markedly anti-FIS stance. Following the death of Les Veillets, who refused to target the FIS, an uneducated youth, Abdel Haq Layada, was deployed as the GIA leader, and declared himself "commander in chief of the GIA" in January 1993. His explicit denunciation of the FIS was to become a trademark of the GIA. This occurred prior to the formation of the AIS, a regular, armed resistance force, under the FIS in early 1993.From the very beginning the GIA  declared that it was not  military wing of FIS and was not struggling for rehabilitation of FIS .Whereas FIS never felt the need to develop an armed wing until GIA established itself .It was only in 1992  that FIS  declared Jihad against the  military regime .According to a leading member of FIS(Qamerdin),” the hesitation of[ FIS ]in declaring jihad was a mistake which led to other  grave mistakes ,one of which is  the [GIA].”

AIMS & PHILOSOPHY OF GIA

The spiritual leader of GIA is sheikh abdel-haq -el-ayedia,while its many members follow mustafa bou'ali ,a militant islamic imam. . It is a puritan anti- -foreigner anti-Christian anti-moderate,anti women, anti secular, anti-Christian ,anti-Jewish anti government, anti intellectual group. The group's ideology is based on a fatwa (an islamic injuction)issued by sheikh abdel-haq-el-ayedia,a prominent islamic scholar 'Alim',which says that algeria'a ruling leaders are infeidels and fighting against this regime is justified .The GIA not only condemned the FIS electoral strategy but ominously declared, "Power is within the range of our Kalashnikovs." It professed that the failure of the Islamic movement to reclaim power was due to a lack of resolution in the pursuit of jihad. Since a number of the leaders of the GIA had fought as volunteers against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, the argument resonated that armed force could bring down an "illegitimate" regime The challenge of the GIA was not just to the regime but to moderate Islamists who had participated in the political process and accepted its demands and limitations. GIA has  not only embraced the use of violent GIA has  not only embraced the use of violence against the regime but is  unprepared to negotiate or accept any sort of cease-fire. In this way they GIA isdifferent from both FIS and AIS  ,who view Jihad only as a means to establish an Islamic state and not as  an I slamic imperative as  GIA claims.AIS (in AIS communiqué))also denied the GIA ‘s claim of being the only legitimate  Islamist group in Algeria carrying out war(jihad) against infidels.

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STRUCTURE ,TACTICS AND TARGETS OF GIA

The GIA is highly fragmented ,structured loosely and has fluctuating membership. Leadership is diffuse and the hierarchical structure is secretive and ill-defined. Most decisionmaking is informal and based on consensus within a consultative group of governing members. Unlike radical Islamic groups in other countries, the GIA does not have an authoritative religious figure who can hold its various factions together and arbitrate disputes within the organization The jurisdiction of the GIA is divided into three regions or military zones in the East, West, and Middle of the state, each of ...

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Armed Islamic Group [ Gia ]
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