The local Algerian press has embarked on a bitter debate on the issue of a referendum to grant official amnesty to terrorists as a means of ensuring national reconciliation. Families of terror victims, however, announced Wednesday November 3, that they bitterly oppose the idea of such a referendum and the offer of amnesty as national treason and disrespect to the victims of terror, according to local news sources.
Algerian President Bouteflika argues such an amnesty is a means of putting the past behind and forging together rebuilding Algeria. He realizes that such a move is impossible without a referendum. Hundreds of thousands of Algerians were directly affected in a bitter civil war which waged throughout the 1990s. (albawaba.com)
