Armed Islamic Group of Algeria

Armed Islamic Group
الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة
Leaders
  • Mansour Meliani: July 1992, arrested that same month.
  • Abdelhak Layada: from January 1993 to May 1993
  • Seif Allah Djaafar aka Mourad Si Ahmed, aka Djaafar al-Afghani: from August 1993 until his death February 26, 1994.[1]
  • Cherif Gousmi aka Abu Abdallah Ahmed: from March 10, 1994, to his death in combat on September 26, 1994.[2]
  • Djamel Zitouni: from October 27, 1994, until July 16, 1996.[3]
  • Antar Zouabri: from 1996 to 9 February 2002.[4][5]
  • Rachid Abou Tourab: killed July 2004.
  • Boulenouar Oukil: arrested 29 April 2005.[6]
  • Nourredine Boudiafi: arrested sometime in November 2004.[7]
Dates of operation1993–2004
MotivesThe creation of an Islamic state in Algeria
Active regionsAlgeria, France
IdeologyQutbism[8]
Islamism
Jihadism
Islamic Fundamentalism
Major actionsAssassinations, massacres, bombings, aircraft hijackings, kidnapping
Notable attacksTahar Djaout assassination, Djillali Liabes assassination, Cheb Hasni assassination, 1994, Air France Flight 8969 hijacking, January 1995 Algiers bombing, 1995 France bombings, Murder of the monks of Tibhirine, Lounès Matoub assassination, Hidroelektra workers massacre
Battles and warsAlgerian Civil War
Designated as a terrorist group by Algeria
 Argentina
 Bahrain
 France
 Japan
 New Zealand
 United Kingdom
 United Nations
 United States

The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from French: Groupe Islamique Armé; Arabic: الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, romanized: al-Jamāʿa al-ʾIslāmiyya al-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War.

It was created from smaller armed groups following the 1992 military coup and arrest and internment of thousands of officials in the Islamist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party after that party won the first round of parliamentary elections in December 1991. It was led by a succession of amirs (commanders) who were killed or arrested one after another. Unlike the other main armed groups, the Mouvement Islamique Arme (MIA) and later the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), in its pursuit of an Islamic state the GIA sought not to pressure the government into concessions but to destabilise and overthrow it, to "purge the land of the ungodly".[9] Its slogan inscribed on all communiques was: "no agreement, no truce, no dialogue".[9] GIA's ideology was inspired by the Jihadist writings of the Egyptian Islamist scholar Sayyid Qutb.[8]

The group desired to create "an atmosphere of general insecurity"[9] and employed kidnapping, assassination, and bombings, including car bombs and targeted not only security forces but civilians. Between 1992 and 1998, the GIA conducted a violent campaign of civilian massacres, sometimes wiping out entire villages in its area of operation (notably those in Bentalha and Rais). It attacked and killed other Islamists who had left the GIA or attempted to negotiate with the government. It also targeted foreign civilians living in Algeria, killing more than 100 expatriate men and women in the country.

The group established a presence outside Algeria, in France, Belgium, Britain, Italy and the United States, and launched terror attacks in France in 1994 and 1995. The "undisputed principal Islamist force" in Algeria in 1994,[10] by 1996, militants were deserting "in droves", alienated by its execution of civilians and Islamist leaders.[11]

In 1999, a government amnesty law motivated large numbers of jihadis to "repent". The remnants of the GIA proper were hunted down over the next two years, leaving a splinter group the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC),[12] which announced its support for Al-Qaeda in October 2003.[13][14] The extent to which the group was infiltrated and manipulated by Algerian security services is disputed.[4][15][16][17][18]

The GIA is considered a terrorist organisation by the governments of Algeria, France, the United States, Argentina,[19] Bahrain,[20] Japan,[21] New Zealand,[22] the United Kingdom[23] and the United Nations,.[24] The GIA remains a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.[25] Canada once listed GIA as a terrorist entity until 18 June 2024. [26]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference GKJTPI2002:263 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference GKJTPI2002:264 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.267-71
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference bbc-2-9-2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference GKJTPI2002:272-3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Algeria's top GIA rebel captured was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Algeria reveals rebel crackdown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Tully, Sarah. "Jihad in Algeria: Sayyid Qutb's Legacy on the Groupe Islamique Armé/Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Armée Islamique du Salut/Islamic Salvation Army (AIS)". Archived from the original on 31 August 2017 – via Academia. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ a b c Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.260, 266
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference GKJTPI2002:265 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Kepel, Jihad, 2002: p.269-70
  12. ^ Hugh Roberts, The Battlefield Algeria, 1988-2002: Studies in a Broken Polity, Verso: London 2003, p. 269: "Hassan Hattab's GSPC which has condemned the GIA's indiscriminate attacks on civilians and, since going it alone, has tended to revert to the classic MIA-AIS strategy of confining its attacks to guerrilla forces",
  13. ^ Whitlock, Craig (5 October 2006). "Al-Qaeda's Far-Reaching New Partner". Washington Post. p. A01. Archived from the original on 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  14. ^ Algerian group backs al-Qaeda. 23 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2004-06-22. Retrieved 7 November 2008. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ajami-2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schindler-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference hrw-1994 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference wluml was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Registro Público de Personas y Entidades vinculadas a actos de Terrorismo y su Financiamiento (RePET)". Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Nación [Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (Argentina)] (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Bahrain Terrorist List (individuals – entities)". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  21. ^ National Police Agency (Japan) (18 February 2022). "国際テロリスト財産凍結法第３条に基づき公告された国際テロリスト" (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  22. ^ "Lists associated with Resolutions 1267/1989/2253 and 1988". New Zealand Police. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  23. ^ "Proscribed terrorist groups". Home Office. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  24. ^ "Narrative Summaries of Reasons for Listing (ISIL & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee)". United Nations Security Council. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Proscribed Organisations". Terrorism Act 2000 (c. 11, sched. 2). UK Public General Acts. 2000-07-20. Archived from the original on 2013-01-21.
  26. ^ "Currently listed entities". Public Safety Canada. Government of Canada. 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.