Timeline of the Algerian Civil War

The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict in Algeria between the Algerian Government and multiple Islamist rebel groups, sparked by a military overthrow of the newly elected Islamist government. The war lasted from December 1991 until February 2002, though in the south of the country an Islamist insurgency remains ongoing.

1991

November 27 – Two Islamists who had fought in the Afghan War, Aïssa Messaoudi and Abderrahmane Dahane, attack a border post at Guemmar, killing soldiers and foreshadowing the war to come.
December 26 – First round of parliamentary elections; the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) wins 188 of the 232 (of 429) seats decided on the first ballot, putting it far ahead of any other party. The Socialist Forces Front (FFS) wins 25 seats, while the ex-ruling party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), wins just 15.

1992

January 3 – The second round of Algeria's general elections is cancelled. President Chadli Bendjedid forced to resign.
January 14 – It is announced that a military-backed High Council of State (HCE) is taking over.
January 16 – The exiled ex-independence fighter Mohammed Boudiaf returns and is given leadership of the HCE.
January 22 – Leading FIS member Abdelkader Hachani arrested.
February 9 – State of emergency declared.
March 4 – FIS dissolved by government decree.
June 29 – Mohammed Boudiaf assassinated; his role is filled by Ali Kafi.
July 12 – FIS leaders Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.
August 26 – Algiers airport bombed; 9 deaths, 128 injured.

1993

March 27 – Algeria cuts diplomatic relations with Sudan and Iran, accusing them of supporting terrorism in Algeria.
May 26 – Anti-Islamist writer Tahar Djaout attacked by assassins; he died of his wounds shortly after, on June 2.
August 22 – Ex-Prime Minister Kasdi Merbah assassinated. The government accuses the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), while FIS accuses the government.
December 1 – Deadline beyond which the GIA had stated that it would consider all foreigners remaining in Algeria as targets.

1994

January 30 – Liamine Zeroual given presidency of the High Council of State.
March 10 – Tazoult prison escape; guerrillas apparently attacked the prison and freed about 1000 prisoners. On the same day, the playwright Abdelkader Alloula was assassinated.
August 27 – Moroccan border closed.
September 29 – Rai singer Cheb Hasni assassinated.
November 14 – Alleged Berrouaghia prison massacre.
December 24 – GIA hijacks Air France Flight 8969.
December 27 – main foreign airlines stop flights to Algeria.

1995

January 14 - Representatives of FIS, FFS, and FLN (and some smaller parties) sign the Sant'Egidio platform (text) in Rome, seeing it as a blueprint for ending the conflict. The Algerian government found its provisions unacceptable, and did not sign.
February 21 - Serkadji prison mutiny; 4 guards and 96 prisoners killed in a day and a half, following an escape attempt and prison mutiny in a high-security prison for people charged with or convicted of terrorism.
November 16 - Liamine Zeroual elected president.

1996

May 21 - The seven French Trappist monks of Tibhirine are beheaded after having been abducted on March 27.^[1]
July 16 - GIA leader Djamel Zitouni killed by the rival LIDD in an ambush. Antar Zouabri takes over.

1997

April 3 - Thalit massacre; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed.
April 22 - Haouch Khemisti massacre; 93 villagers killed.
April 23 - Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
June 5 - Parliamentary elections. The newly created pro-government Democratic National Rally (RND) comes first, with 156/380 seats, followed by the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) (69) and the former single party FLN (62); these top three form a coalition government. Zeroual remains president.
June 16 - Dairat Labguer massacre; some 50 people killed.
July 27 - Si Zerrouk massacre; about 50 people killed.
August 3 - Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre; 40-76 villagers killed.
August 20 - Souhane massacre; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
August 26 - Beni-Ali massacre; 60-100 people killed.
August 29 - Rais massacre; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed.
September 1 - FIS leader Abassi Madani moved from jail to house arrest. The more radical Ali Belhadj remains in jail.
September 5 - Beni-Messous massacre; over 87 killed.
September 19 - Guelb El-Kebir massacre; 53 killed.
September 21 - The AIS declares a unilateral ceasefire.
September 22 - Bentalha massacre; over 200 villagers killed.
October 12 - Sidi Daoud massacre; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
November 27 - Second Souhane massacre; 25 killed.
December 24 - Sid El-Antri massacre; 50-100 villagers killed.
December 30 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: up to 400 people are killed in four villages in the wilaya of Relizane.

1998

January 4 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998; over 170 killed in three remote villages.
January 11 - Sidi-Hamed massacre; over 100 people killed.
March 26 - Oued Bouaicha massacre; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
June 25 - Anti-religious Kabyle singer Matoub Lounes assassinated.
September 14 - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (GSPC) forms as a faction splits from GIA over its massacre policy.
December 8 - Tadjena massacre; 81 villagers killed.

1999

April 15 - Abdelaziz Bouteflika elected president, all other candidates having withdrawn alleging fraud.
June 5 - The Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the FIS's armed wing, agrees in principle to disband and starts negotiating for an amnesty for its fighters.
November 22 - Senior FIS member Abdelkader Hachani assassinated.

2000

January 11 - AIS concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands.

2001

September 23 - George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13224 freezes assets of the GIA and GSPC as terrorist groups after the September 11 attacks in the United States.

2002

February 8 - Antar Zouabri, GIA leader, is killed in his hometown of Boufarik. (His death had been incorrectly announced on previous occasions.)

2003

July 2 - FIS leaders Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj released, having served 12-year sentences.^[2]
October 23 - GSPC leader Nabil Sahraoui (having taken over from Hassan Hattab) announces that his group "strongly and fully support Osama bin Laden's jihad against the heretic America as well as we support our brothers in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Chechnya".

2004

June 20 - Government announces killing of GSPC head Nabil Sahraoui. He is succeeded by Abou Mossaab Abdelouadoud.^[3]
July - GIA leader Rachid Abou Tourab killed, according to an interior ministry statement in January 2005.^[4]

References

^ Whitney, Craig R. (24 May 1996). "7 French Monks Reported Killed By Islamic Militants in Algeria". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/algerians-wait-to-see-results-of-fis-leaders-release-from-jail#:~:text=Abbas%20Madani%2C%20the%20leader%20of%20Algeria%E2%80%99s%20banned%20Islamic,weeks%20of%20political%20demonstrations%20calling%20for%20free%20elections
^ https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/world/militant-slain-in-algeria-ties-to-qaeda-are-reported.html
^ https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/381675/Algerie_Le_chef_du_GIA%252C_Rachid_Abou_Tourab%252C_aurait_ete_tue.html

External links

Chronologie d’une tragédie cachée, a timeline

[1] Whitney, Craig R. (24 May 1996). "7 French Monks Reported Killed By Islamic Militants in Algeria". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 12 January 2024.

[2] ttps://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/algerians-wait-to-see-results-of-fis-leaders-release-from-jail#:~:text=Abbas%20Madani%2C%20the%20leader%20of%20Algeria%E2%80%99s%20banned%20Islamic,weeks%20of%20political%20demonstrations%20calling%20for%20free%20elections

[3] ttps://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/world/militant-slain-in-algeria-ties-to-qaeda-are-reported.html

[4] ttps://www.lorientlejour.com/article/381675/Algerie_Le_chef_du_GIA%252C_Rachid_Abou_Tourab%252C_aurait_ete_tue.html

v t e Years in Algeria (1816–present)
19th century	1816 1830 1834 1835 1837 1838 1840 1842 1843 1845 1848 1852 1866 1869 1871 1873 1874 1876 1877 1881 1885 1889 1894 1897 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024