Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ALGIERS1575
2005-07-28 15:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

ALGERIANS OUTRAGED BY MURDER OF TWO DIPLOMATS IN

Tags:  PTER PREL AG IZ 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001575 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2015
TAGS: PTER PREL AG IZ
SUBJECT: ALGERIANS OUTRAGED BY MURDER OF TWO DIPLOMATS IN
BAGHDAD, IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR IRAQ POLICY UNCLEAR

REF: A. ALGIERS 1539

B. ALGIERS 1560

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Marc Sievers, Reason 1.4 (b) (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001575

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2015
TAGS: PTER PREL AG IZ
SUBJECT: ALGERIANS OUTRAGED BY MURDER OF TWO DIPLOMATS IN
BAGHDAD, IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR IRAQ POLICY UNCLEAR

REF: A. ALGIERS 1539

B. ALGIERS 1560

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Marc Sievers, Reason 1.4 (b) (d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment. Algerians reacted with shock
and outrage to the announcement July 27 by Al-Qaida in Iraq
that it had executed the two kidnapped Algerian diplomats,
Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi. Within two hours of the
posting of the Al-Qaida announcement on a jihadist website,
the Presidency confirmed that they were dead, reportedly
based on information obtained by a GOA working group in
Amman. President Bouteflika issued a strongly worded
statement condemning the murders, which he termed "odious"
and "cowardly," expressed condolences to the families, and
warned that Algeria would "pursue with cold determination"
those who perpetrated the kidnapping and murder of the two
men. Foreign Minister Bedjaoui convened the MFA staff to
express his personal outrage and grief. In comments to the
press afterward, Bedjaoui admitted for the first time that
the GOA had sought to contact the kidnappers but without
success. Public opinion is clearly angry, with much of the
fury now directed at the terrorists and their Algerian
sympathizers, especially former FIS number two Ali Benhadj,
who was arrested in Algiers after making a statement to
Al-Jazeera that appeared to call for killing the two
diplomats since they were "agents of the occupation." At the
same time, some anger is also directed at the Iraqi
government for allegedly failing to protect the diplomats, at
the U.S. for invading Iraq in the first place, and at the
Algerian Government for not mobilizing public opinion and
Islamic organizations in its efforts to seek their release.
While it is not yet clear how this event will affect the
GOA's cautiously supportive position toward the Iraqi
Transitional Government, our sense is that statements such as
Belhadj's and the calls by the Algerian terrorist group GSPC
for the two diplomats to be executed, will underscore the
links between Algerian terrorist groups and Zarqawi, and
could help undermine Algerian popular sympathy for the Iraqi
"resistance." Meanwhile, high-level expressions of sympathy
and support should help Bouteflika fend off pressures to

close the embassy and scale back contact with the Iraqi
Transitional government. End Summary and Comment.

Al-Qaida Announces and GOA Confirms
--------------


2. (C) Algerians reacted with outrage to reports
mid-afternoon on July 27 that Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in the Land
of the Two Rivers had announced on a jihadist website that it
had executed the two Algerian diplomats who were kidnapped in
Baghdad July 21. Within two hours of the appearance of the
announcement, the Presidency issued a statement confirming
that the two men were dead. A well-informed source told us
the confirmation was based on specific information obtained
by the MFA working group in Amman. Whatever the basis, the
confirmation was done in an authoritative manner that left no
room to question the GOA's certainty. President Bouteflika
condemned the killings as "cowardly," offered his personal
condolences to the families, declared that these crimes had
no justification and had nothing to do with the Islamic
religion, and warned that after a suitable period of
mourning, Algeria would pursue the killers with "cold
determination." A minute of silence at noon July 28 was
widely observed in Algiers and other major cities.


3. (U) Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui, flanked by
Minister Delegate Messahel and Secretary General Lamamra,
addressed the MFA staff at about the same time that the
Presidency made its announcement. Appearing at a press
conference at the MFA, Bedjaoui said Algeria was "stunned,"
and "could not understand the motivations of this vile
crime." Bedjaoui admitted for the first time that the GOA
had made two attempts to contact the kidnappers, but without
receiving any response and without the kidnappers offering
any demands. Bedjaoui said he hoped Algeria would be able to
regain the corpses, but added that he was doubtful. Bedjaoui
insisted the GOA had not made a mistake in deciding to send
its diplomats to Iraq in 2003. He deflected a question
whether Algeria held the Iraqi authorities responsible for
not providing better security for diplomats in Baghdad, and
said that after the mourning period, the GOA would "take the
steps it sees as appropriate." Bedjaoui also condemned the
statements issued by the GSPC terrorist group for
contributing to the kidnappers' decision to kill their
prisoners.

Benhadj Arrested; Backlash against Islamists
--------------


4. (U) Press commentary has paralleled Bedjaoui's outrage at
the statement issued by GSPC July 26, in which the largest
Algerian terrorist group expressed its solidarity with
Zarqawi's organization and its joy at the kidnappings, called
both diplomats "apostates," and accused Belkadi of having
been an officer in Algerian intelligence service allegedly
"responsible" for two massacres of Algerian civilians in
1990s, and called for them to be killed. The French language
daily El Watan published a front page photo July 28 of
Belaroussi taken while he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca
in refutation of GSPC and Al-Qaida's claims that the men were
"apostates" or converts.


5. (U) Former number two leader of the banned Islamic
Salvation Front (FIS) Ali Benhadj, who was released from
house arrest by the GOA in 2003 on condition that he refrain
from making political statements, was arrested at about the
same time as the announcement of the deaths of the diplomats
July 27. Benhadj had earlier granted an interview to
Al-Jazeera in which he praised Al-Zarqawi's group, and
appeared to justify killing the two diplomats on the grounds
that they were "agents of the occupation." Benhadj also
referred to the "corrupt and rotten" Algerian regime, which
he contrasted with the Algerian people's alleged
identification with the Iraqi "resistance." Benhadj
expressed his support for "the brothers in the land of
Jihad," saying that he prayed to God to make them victorious
against the occupiers. Benhadj was reportedly being held for
questioning at the Algiers central police station.

Angry Public, Uncertain Impact
--------------


6. (C) The Algerian public as well as the GOA are angry over
the killing of these two men, but the impact on Algerian
policy toward Iraq remains unclear. Since the kidnappings
July 21, most GOA spokesmen have emphasized that Algeria
opposed the invasion of Iraq and always supported the
restoration of Iraq's sovereignty, unity, and territorial
integrity. The two diplomats were described in public
statements as "administrative staff" sent to provide
assistance to the 300-odd Algerian residents in Iraq, whose
presence did not signal any particular support for the Iraqi
Government. The GOA's public statements ignored Algeria's
record of quiet cooperation with the three Iraqi governing
bodies established since the war, its acceptance of the
credentials of an Iraqi Ambassador to Algiers in 2004, and
its support in the UNSC for the transfer of sovereignty and
legitimation of MNF-I. Seeking to avoid stirring up a public
opinion strongly opposed to the invasion and occupation of
Iraq, the GOA's failure to explain the true nature of its
policy has put it in an awkward position and opened itself up
to criticism that it sent Algerian diplomats into harm's way
in Baghdad only to appease the Americans and British.
Although we are encouraged by the assurances offered to
Charge and UK Ambassador by Minister Delegate Messahel (ref
b),made one day before the announcement of the killing of
the two diplomats, that the Algerian Embassy in Baghdad would
remain open, we anticipate that the GOA will be under
considerable pressure from the public and even its own MFA
staff to close it. Sympathy and encouragement from us and
other coalition members, as well as from the Iraqi
Transitional Government, are needed to help President
Bouteflika hold the line.


7. (C) Even if the GOA's failure to level with its own
public about its own reasons for cautiously supporting the
Iraqi government is now exposing it to criticism, by far the
largest part of the public's anger appears directed at the
terrorists. By its gleeful statements of support for Zarqawi
and his organization's criminal acts, GSPC has helped clarify
for any Algerians who had doubts, the true nature of its
relationship to the terrorists in Iraq. By accusing two
average Algerian diplomats, one of whom was clearly a pious
Muslim, of being "apostates" who deserved to die, GSPC has
underscored that it remains at war with all elements of the
Algerian state, not just the security services. By offering
his own voice in support of murdering two helpless prisoners,
in contradiction to all traditional Islamic values and
traditions, Ali Benhadj has succeeded in reminding the
Algerian public of what might have been their fate had the
FIS come to power through the ballot box.


8. (C) Several Algerian contacts, all of them admittedly
secular in outlook, have already commented to us that this
incident has raised new doubts in their minds about President
Bouteflika's plans for general amnesty. The vicious rhetoric
of the kidnappers and that of their Algerian admirers, with
their gross distortions of Islamic values, have served to
underscore the deep fault-lines in Algerian society. By
stirring up memories of the traumas experienced by every
Algerian household in the 1990s, the kidnapping and killing
of the two diplomats is likely to have serious repercussions
for Bouteflika's national reconciliation program, as well as
for his Iraq policy.

SIEVERS