Algeria's prime minister announced Wednesday that a former Islamist rebel commander who declared he wanted to form a new political party would not be allowed to do so.
Abdelmalek Sellal said that according to the nation's political party law, no one involved in the "national tragedy" — a reference to the 1990s civil war that claimed 200,000 lives — could form a party.
"Political activity is forbidden for those who participated in terrorist actions," he said, citing the 10-year-old charter for peace and reconciliation that helped end the civil war kicked off by a military coup in 1992.
Algeria's generals intervened when the Islamic Salvation Front party was poised to win legislative elections in the early 1990s. Many Islamists then abandoned politics and joined armed groups.
Madani Mezrag was the leader of the party's armed wing, the Islamic Army of Salvation, and fought government forces until he turned himself in as part of an amnesty deal in 1997.
On Friday, during a summer study group involving hundreds of participants, he announced the formation of a new political party, the Algerian Front for Reconciliation and Salvation. He said he expected it to be approved within a year.
Since turning himself in, Mezrag has become active in business and often speaks to the press. He has expressed little remorse for his activities during the civil war.
Algeria has a number of Islamist political parties, but they have only a small number of seats in parliament and no group has ever recaptured the popularity of the Islamists in the 1990s.
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