Algeria forces tied to disappearances
Algerian security forces members were responsible for the disappearances of 6146 civilians during a decade-long struggle with Muslim rebels, a government-appointed commission has concluded.
“The 6146 I am referring to are people who have disappeared because of the actions of agents of the state (security forces),” said Farouk Ksentini, appointed by President Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika to investigate the disappearances.
“We cannot say whether they are dead or alive. We have said that they have disappeared,” he said, adding that the agents had acted on their own initiative and not on orders of the state.
Ksentini, who publicised some of the findings of the report late last year, presented the report to Bouteflika on Thursday.
The 12-month investigation forms part of the president’s national reconciliation programme to unite the country.
The authorities estimate that 150,000 people have died in an uprising by Muslim rebels.