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Amazigh Demands Only Partially Addressed

During a meeting between representatives of the government and the Amazigh region of Kabyle last week, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that the Algerian constitution will be amended to recognize Tamazight as an official national language alongside Arabic following elections in May.The announcement brings closure to decades of struggle on the part of Algerian Imazighen for recognition of their cultural and lingual rights.

Since independence from France in 1962, Algeria has pushed a strict Arabization campaign, suppressing the use of Tamazight on all levels. One of the most momentous political events to take place in Algeria since independence was the Tamazight Spring of 1980, in which thousands of rioting Imazighen clashed with military police throughout the Amazigh region of Kabyle. The riots were launched after a renowned Amazigh author was restricted by authorities from lecturing at the University of Tizi Ouzou on the subject of ancient Amazigh poetry.

The President’s recent announcement was the result of another wave of Amazigh demonstrations, raging more or less unabated since last spring following the murder of an Amazigh high school student by military police. The initial demonstrations in May were met with repression and brutality, and 80 more Kabyles were killed and thousands injured when police fired live ammunition into the rioting crowds. This event intensified Amazigh unrest throughout the country and induced Amazigh leaders to issue a list of 15 non-negotiable demands to authorities, upon which an end to demonstrations depended. Recognition of Tamazight as a national language was one of those 15 demands.

However, many of the others have yet to be addressed, including a program to revitalize the economy of Kabyle region, which suffers from rampant unemployment and poor housing, and the imminent withdrawal of security forces from the area.

In his speech last week, President Bouteflika pronounced that it is “inconceivable” that he should pull the paramilitary forces out of the region during such a period of instability, although he has promised accountability for those accused of abuses against civilians. Many Amazigh leaders remain unsatisfied with the President’s gestures however, which they consider rhetorical. They are threatening to boycott upcoming elections in May.

Imazighen represent over 25 percent of Algeria’s population. They are indigenous to the Saharan lowlands and the mountainous regions of the Maghreb, which they’ve inhabited for thousands of years. History first records them in the era of Carthage as nomadic traders of the Sahara. During the 3rd millennium BC their kingdoms were conquered by Rome, and a thousand years later Arab invaders converted the majority of the population to Islam. However, due to their fierce independence and isolated mountainous enclaves, Imazighen maintained much of their pre-Islamic cultural traditions alongside their newly acquired religion. Their local forms of governance by village council were upheld, as well as their close-knit patrilineal social organization, distinct mode of dress, language and rituals. Because of their historically strong expression of independence, Amazigh have been considered a threat to national solidarity in most countries of North Africa and have suffered extreme marginalization and frequent persecution throughout the region.