(This is a Babelfish semi-translation of Bouteflika's speech, published
in the 8/15/2005 edition
of El Watan.
French original at: <http://www.elwatan.com/2005-08-15/2005-08-15-24615>.)
Bismillah Errahmane Errahim.
My dear compatriots,
The drama that we have just lived with l’enlèvement of our
two diplomats with
My dear compatriots,
The safety restored thanks to the policy of civil harmony,
the nation again released its energies to be devoted to national construction.
From now on, the Algerians and the Algerian ones found their legitimate aspiration
to rebuild their fatherland, to also reach them the wellbeing and to guarantee
to l’avenir their rising generations. However, our national wound far d’ĂŞtre
is still cured. And that n’est not only due to the terrorism which persists,
even with a reduced intensity, and of which we are determined to put an end
to the crimes by all the means. This wound also results from the serious consequences
of the national tragedy. In addition to the families of our martyrs and victims
of terrorism, many families are still éplorées by the disappearance as
of theirs. D’autres families, so many, whose close relations found
themselves involved in the infernal spiral of terrorism, are delivered
to the destitution. All these families, without distinction, are Algerian
families with whom we share the same fatherland and the same faith. Our orphans
amount per hundreds of thousands : the ones because their parents fell while
defending the fatherland, the others because their parents took the weapons
against this same fatherland, d’autres still, more, were found only and given
up because of the terrorist insanity. However, the Algerian nation is the
great family of all these orphans. She will be able to take care and ensure
their future of it, but she will have to also take care to move away from
their innocent hearts the germs mortals of hatred and revenge. Here are some
of the reasons which m’ont thorough to act and plead, of the years during,
so that we have together courage d’avancer towards a true national reconciliation,
by holding account of the positive results of the civil harmony and the hopes
qu’elle gave birth to. The national reconciliation constitutes a challenge
of high moral rise, challenging our faith and our patriotism. We thus should
be prepared there. For my part, j’y invested, throughout these last years,
my faith of believing, but also my fidelity with my companions, the glorious
chouhada of the Release with which j’ai makes the oath not only reconquer
our national independence, but more especially to build l
̱Algery of which they dreamed and for which they were sacrificed.
I thank God the Almighty for seeing the Algerian people shared this same
will which will enable us to carry out the national reconciliation indeed.
This will does not mean l’oubli our sufferings, nor
the negation of our sacrifices. It represents in its form the noblest our
aspiration with peace and our national cohesion guarantor of our unit, this
unit out of which our national future will remain always compromised and
exposed with unquestionable dangers.
My dear compatriots,
We must learn the lessons from l’immense national tragedy
which we have just lived. ḺAlgery,
which always showed its solidarity with the other people and which remains
given to support the noble and right causes in the world, discovered in l’Ă©preuve
cruel qu’elle has just lived qu’elle should count only on itself and its
own means. In its very great majority, the world attended
without reaction and often even without compassion with the martyrdom of
our people vis-a-vis l’hydre of the terrorism which we fight and which we
denounce already as a plague which is unaware of the borders. This
silence s’est too often hypocritically avoided virtues of the democracy and
rights of l’homme. Do voices have even thorough l’indĂ©cence jusqu’Ă
s’interroger on " which kills which ? "in
My dear compatriots,
Your choice owes d’ĂŞtre founded on a clear comprehension
of what wish the sovereign people to l’avenir of l
̱Algery. C’est for that that this project of charter
will be very widely diffused. It will also make l’objet d’une broad
countryside ḏexplication. I want
however, since j’en have l’occasion aujourd’hui, you to expose of them as
of this evening the broad outline. Initially, and through this project of
charter, you are invited to underline for l’Histoire and the future generations
the true nature of the serious crisis that our country lived, a crisis which
failed to carry the structures of our State, a crisis which s’est not limited
to a question of rhetoric or ḏideology, a crisis whose l’enjeu was and remains
peace and safety for each citizen and each citizen, as well as the perenniality
of the democratic and popular Algerian Republic in fidelity with the message
of November 1, 1954. By doing this, l’occasion is offered to you to proclaim
without hatred and supremely : " never that ! "In
same time, you will have l’occasion to materialize this will of peace and
of reconciliation qu’il seems me to perceive like a call pressing of the
majority of the nation, convinced that without final consolidation of peace
by the national reconciliation, no step of economic and social development
and no effort of modernization of our country could not produce the results
that we expect some. In second place, and through this same project of charter,
you are invited to solemnly mark a vibrating homage to the martyrs of the
national duty and the victims of terrorism, like our collective solidarity
towards their families. In third place, l’occasion to you is also offered
d’exprimer our recognition to all those which were sacrificed to preserve
our citizens of fatal cruelty and to safeguard the democratic and popular
all d’abord, l’extinction of the legal proceedings for all
those, and they are numerous, which put already an end to their armed activities
and went to the authorities, since January 13, 2000, date of preclusion from
the effects of the law carrying civil harmony, for as much qu’ils are not
implied in collective massacres, rapes or attacks with l’explosif in public
places ;
then, l’abandon of the legal proceedings against the people
sought in Algeria or with l’Ă©tranger or condemned by contumacy, which will
decide to voluntarily arise in front of the authorities, for as much qu’elles
are not they also responsible for the restrictive facts mentioned above,
like l’extinction of the continuations against the people implied in activities
of support for terrorism and which will be declared at the proper authorities ;
moreover, grace for the people condemned or held for acts
of terrorism other than the collective massacres, the rapes and the attacks
with l’explosif in public places ;
finally, of commutations and the handing-over of sorrows
for all the other individuals condemned definitively, held or sought for
terrorist acts, which are not concerned with measurements of grace and d’extinction
of continuations stated above.
My dear compatriots,
The project of charter for peace and the national reconciliation,
on which you have to pronounce you, also includes/understands measures intended
to establish and consolidate the national reconciliation. D’une leaves, it
s’agit of the final lifting of the difficulties and the constraints which
the people continue to encounter who chose d’adhĂ©rer with the policy of
civil harmony, and thus placed their patriotic duty above any other consideration,
refusing any instrumentalisation of the crisis lived by l
̱Algery by the hostile environments of l
̱interior or ḻexterior.
D’autre leaves, it s’agit of measurements having to allow the final standardization
of the social condition of the people who made l’objet administrative measurements
of dismissal, within the framework of their activities the service of l’Etat.
While thus testifying to your leniency and your generosity, you will have
also l’occasion to say that you do not n’entendez to forget the tragedies
consequences of l’odieuse instrumentalisation of the precepts of l’Islam,
religion of l’Etat, like your determination to prevent the repetition of
this drift. On the basis of this conviction that I divide with you, the project
of charter envisages l’interdiction of any exercise d’une political activity,
in some form that it is, with the persons in charge for this instrumentalisation
of our religion, just as l’interdiction of any political activity, with whoever
having a share of responsibility in the design and the implementation for
the policy preaching the pseudo " Djihad " against the nation and the institutions
for the democratic and popular Algerian Republic.
My dear compatriots,
As I underlined it one moment ago, the project of charter
subjected to your free choice is intended to hasten the final return of safety
and peace in noting country, but it is also intended to carry out us towards
the national reconciliation and the reinforcement of our national cohesion.
So it also owed d’apporter of the answers to the painful dramas which still
live Algerian families. It is thus of the tragedy question of the people
missing in the wake from the national tragedy, which afflicted with the thousands
of our families and which, in addition, is exploited by hostile environments
with our country, not not by solidarity towards these families, but with
an only aim of harming ḻAlgery. This file on which l’Etat n’a spared any
effort challenges us collectively and it is necessary us to face there courage
and with a high direction of the responsibilities, in l’intĂ©rĂŞt national.
We share the pain of the families of disappeared, because the victims are
our compatriots and the families which suffer are ours.
J’espère that in our faith and our attachment common to the national reconciliation,
these families, at the sides of which we will be held, will be able to find
the comfort necessary to bandage their wound and to exceed their pain.
In what concerns us collectively, us, the great Algerian family, the project
of charter for peace and the national reconciliation put forward the following
measures on this painful question :
all d’abord, l’Etat will substitute of responsibility for
the fate for all the people missing in the context from the national tragedy,
and it will take measurements necessary with full knowledge of the facts ;
then, l’Etat will take all suitable measurements to allow
having the right of the people missing to transcend this terrible test in
dignity ;
finally, the missing people will be regarded as victims
of the national tragedy and their having right will have right to repair.
With through these proposals, c’est with a duty of national solidarity that
I invite you, my dear compatriots, at the sides of our brothers and our sisters,
members of the families of disappeared, by requesting from God the Almighty
qu’Il supports them of His Comfort.
My dear compatriots,
The national tragedy has affected l’ensemble our people without
exception. Our will of peace and national reconciliation thus dictates to
the duty of n’exclure any victim to us, of some edge qu’elle was found in
this terrible test. For this reason we should not also forget the drama of
the families whose members took part in terrorist l’action. Our religion
of leniency and fraternity teaches us that each one can be responsible only
for its own acts. The parents, the widows and the orphans of those which
joined the rows of the terrorists cannot be held for persons in charge for
their acts nor especially to be pushed back by our company. C’est why the
project of charter proposes that l’Etat takes measures of national solidarity
to the profit of these families which are stripped and which, they also,
were tested by terrorism through ḻimplication of their close relation.
My dear compatriots,
While returning to you with the ballot boxes on next 29 September
to express freely and supremely your decision on the project of charter for
peace and the national reconciliation, c’est a decisive choice that you will
carry out to l’avenir ḻAlgery
and for that of our children. Some could accomodate this project like a provocation
vis-a-vis with their still sharp pain. C’est a feeling that we respect, but
which also invites to interrogations : how many
victims will it still be necessary, after the 100 000 victims which we already
recorded, to alleviate the pain of those which lost expensive beings ? Which
more tragic tribute do we have to still pay together for political aberrations
which showed their bloody consequences ? Which
future do we want to offer to our younger generations which opened the eyes
in the storm of the national tragedy and which are already deeply traumatisées
by violence in the medium of which they grew ?
Having personally placed, my life lasting, l
̱Algery above any other consideration, and pertaining to a generation
which very sacrificed for the fatherland, I cultivate the conviction qu’une
vast majority of our people will recognize myself in the contents of this
project of charter for peace and the national reconciliation, because this
project is carrying waitings of our fellow-citizens, from those who suffered
hard from the national tragedy, of those which lived the fear, the death
of close relations, d’amis and of neighbors, those which, to date, are exposed
to the crimes of the residues of terrorism. Known voices will not miss a
s’Ă©lever to try s’opposer with this legitimate popular waiting, with our
major desire of peace, our search of national reconciliation so that ḻAlgery
finds the force of its national unit which allowed him s’opposer its adversaries
through the centuries. These voices will be without any doubt the same ones
as those which, with ḻinterior
and ḻexterior, attended yesterday
quiet with horrible slaughters which struck us in our flesh and our heart.
This guilty silence yesterday disqualified s’Ă©riger aujourd’hui as critics
of the will of the sovereign people, as they were found already disqualified
in their vain attempts to draw up itself against the civil harmony. The Algerian
people, which dearly reconquered his freedom and which poured a very heavy
tribute in loneliness, with the fight against terrorism before the international
community n’en measurement the destroying threat and effects, legitimately
have the right to live finally in peace and the reconciliation with itself.
L’enlèvement and l’exĂ©cution of our diplomats with Baghdad concern these
attempts at s’opposer to our policy of national reconciliation and which
want that our company continues to live in this atmosphere of fear and ḏinsecurity
founded by terrorism. The national reconciliation will not only enable us
to reinforce our cohesion and to bring back peace in our cities and our campaigns,
it will also allow us to d’isoler still more the actors of the terrorism
which we will be able to then fight with always more d
̱efficacity and of determination. If the policy remains l’art the
possible one, the national reconciliation that I propose to you represent
the only compromise authorized by national balances and who, to l’instar
of the civil harmony, will bring back serenity in the spirits and the hearts,
and will mark out the way for the final solutions of tomorrow. It is time
for each one to d’Ă©largir its vision to understand that if the wounds are
still open at much d’entre us, the national invoice is heavy, very heavy,
because the criminality recorded on the national level as the vulgarizing
of died in mediums of our youth do not predict for tomorrow a company of
happiness and prosperity. All that, all this violence,
all this vandalism, all this cruelty are the terrorist consequence of l’Ă©preuve
which we lived. C’est aujourd’hui the responsibility
for all and each one d’oeuvrer to the change, peace, the reconciliation.
For that, it will be necessary to agree to pay a heavy, but inevitable tribute
with peace and safety for all. The charter for peace and the national reconciliation
offers l’occasion to channel to us l’apport each one in the reinforcement
of national ḻunity, the promotion and the consolidation of the personality
and ḻidentity main roads and the perpetuation of the high values of the
Declaration of
Dear compatriots,
As with l’accoutumĂ©e, I m
̱adress with you directly and in any frankness to expose you sincerely
and clearly my point of view, and you to consult and responsibility with
complete freedom. I remain convinced that your opinion is an engagement
and your free choice a pledge between us. J’ai proposed before an initiative
of civil harmony which was, by twice, adopted by the Parliament, and I stopped
hardly there, but went towards a popular referendum sanctioned by a spectacular
result, never carried out since the popular referendum on l’indĂ©pendance
of ḻAlgery in July 1962. Selected
J’ai peace and the harmony for which a heavy tribute was poured, that of
the citizenship and patriotism. I am as persuaded as you n’y will not give
up, especially after this last s’est enracinĂ© throughout these years d’efforts,
of constant construction and perseverance. It is time to continue what you
started by blood and sweat, and d’atteindre your noble objective by carrying
out a total and lasting peace which will turn forever an awfully ensanglantée
page, and this, by expressing you freely d’une high and understandable voice.
I am convinced that your voice will be that of the right, justice, and the
good, and your attitude will not be qu’une creditable guarantee with this
step which we together started and through which we seek the good of this
country and these people while remaining deeply convinced only the tolerance,
l’indulgence and fraternity are virtues preached by l’Islam, of great national
qualities, a civilized behavior and a way impossible to circumvent to put
an end to an infernal cycle of violence, at one made era of death, destruction
and desolation. As your adhesion was remarkable, your
frank and solved support for the project of the civil harmony, c’est filled
ḏoptimism which I wish that the
project of the national reconciliation can profit from the same assured support
that I am of your comprehension, your perspicacity, your blackberry reflexion,
your great values and your sincere nationalism. Will of the people n’Ă©mane
it not of the Will of God, the Clement, Miséricordieux ?
Dear compatriots,
The referendum to which I invite you aujourd’hui is a democratic,
transparent and regular referendum, and your free decision will be sovereign
and imperative. I will respect it and j’oeuvrerai with his application what
qu’il costs some. The democracy takes into account l’avis minority, but also
implies that this one yields with l’avis majority. That being, I wish that
the crushing majority be, sincerely and firmly, attached to l’esprit of reconciliation,
d’entente and of tolerance. C’est there a call of the heart with the heart,
overflowing d’amour and of kindness, convinced that l’Islam is peace, that
civilization is quietude and that the fatherland is citizenship for the coexistence,
solidarity and l’entraide. C’est there a call of the reason with the conscious
and advised reason, with the enlightened and responsible conscience, l’esprit
which acts with understanding and wisdom in the way of the success, happiness
and quietude. Ḻ
Algery with which you have appointment aujourd’hui and tomorrow is sure d’elle
and of its capacities. ḺAlgery aspires to a radiant future which
will be carried out, thanks to God, your reconciliation and your cohesion,
your efforts and your sacrifices, your fidelity and your adhesion around
your State and of your leaders. The determination and the genius of the men
proceed of the will and the size of the people. We learned from glorious
RĂ©volution of November how is carried out the fusion of all the potentialities
in the crucible of creative nationalism to achieve wonders and to take up
the challenges. We, we count on God and on our dear people, conscious of
the weight of the responsibility, with the faith in the capacity of our people
to assimilate l’appel and with the certainty qu’il with go of l’Histoire
like it l’a will be always be and will be it still. Can God the Almighty
preserve our dear fatherland, guide our people in his choice and bless his
walk towards the finishing of the process to make more progress and of prosperity.
Can it enable him to live in dignity, quietude and prosperity.
Can God arm us with wisdom, force and patience to achieve in fidelity with
the oath the responsibilities which m’incombent and being with the height
of the confidence of my large people to carry out our dear fatherland to
the most row of dignity and the success.
Glory with ḻAlgery, glory with its martyrs, its heroes and his large people.
I thank you.