Algeria has presented the Assad regime with the idea of reproducing in Syria its experience with the security and political crisis it faced in the 1990s, which ended in crackdowns on protests and arresting and killing those who rejected local reconciliations.
During his visit to Damascus to meet with President Bashar al-Assad, Algeria’s Minister for Arab League Affairs Abdelkader Mesahel offered advice on his country’s experience of using national reconciliation to overcome its security and political crisis in the 1990s, according to the official Algerian news agency.
The plan includes, according to Mesahel, “Realizing the aspirations of the people for stability and ensuring a political solution to the crisis which the Arab world is living through.”
The minister stressed Algeria’s support for “the Syrian people in fighting terrorism and countering it to preserve Syria’s stability, security, the unity of its citizens, and the harmony of its people,” according to the Algerian agency.
The Algerian government pursued a style similar to that employed by the Assad regime today by using force against the Syrian people to push for individual or regional reconciliations, in which the rule of the regime was accepted in exchange for amnesty. The Algerian government massacred all those who rejected the settlements.
The Algerian settlement ended with the regime and its institutions remaining intact, and the beginning of a renewal of its figures with the election of the army’s candidate General Liamine Zeroual in 1994, arriving at the election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 1999, who remains in power today despite poor health.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
