"Algerian President Zeroual announces his resignation."

EXCERPTS:

          As if Algeria needed more problems! In a surprise 40-minute live TV address to the nation last Friday, President Liamine Zeroual announced his decision to cut short his term of office and hand over to a new leader to be elected in February. Zeroual did not offer any explanation for his decision, merely remarking that the time was right for "a new era of reinforced democracy."

"Zeroual's decision should not be a surprise to anyone who watches the Algerian scene closely," said Mohieddin Amimour, a member of parliament. "Pressure was brought to bear on him, but we shouldn't believe that the power struggle is solely responsible for this," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.

"During his era, acts of violence and massacres were not attributed to 'fundamentalist Islamic groups' as some wanted, but Zeroual himself referred to them as 'armed terrorist mercenaries,'" explained Amimour. "This significant distinction in itself marks a policy not too many were pleased with," he added.

The crisis in Algeria was triggered by the army's decision to scrap the 1992 elections that the FIS was poised to win. The violence which was unleashed by this action has resulted in approximately 85,000 deaths according to independent human rights groups. Officially, the violence is blamed on the radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

But the rise in the death toll and the increasing frequency of massacres provoked several international organisations, including the United Nations, to demand independent investigations into the violence. The first UN delegation, which visited Algeria recently, presented its 32-page report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last Thursday.