Algerian hero and longtime opposition leader buried in chaos

[rooster59]

Algerian hero and longtime opposition leader buried in chaos

AOMAR OUALI, Associated Press
ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press


ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Tens of thousands of Algerians massed in a mountain village for a chaotic burial ceremony Friday of a national hero of the brutal independence war with France.

Hocine Ait Ahmed, who spent nearly a quarter-century in exile in Europe, was buried in the village where he was born, a day after his remains arrived in Algiers, the Algerian capital. Ait Ahmed, 89, who was the country's leading opposition figure, died Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ait Ahmed had requested a burial in his native village, Ath Ahmedh, next to his mother's grave, 110 kilometers (nearly 70 miles) east of Algiers in the heart of the Kabyle region that is home to Algeria's proud-spirited Berber population.

The ceremony transformed into a scene of chaos as crowds flooded the winding mountain roads to view the flag-draped coffin.

"Algeria free and democratic," shouted the crowd, taking up a slogan of the party he founded decades ago, the Front of Socialist Forces, which remains an active opposition voice.

Ait Ahmed had been the last of nine heroes of the independence war to die. But he spoke out against the political system controlled since independence from France in 1962 by the military, overtly in the past, behind the scenes today.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's government welcomed Ait Ahmed's remains with fanfare at the Algiers airport. However, the family refused to allow a burial in the capital alongside the other heroes of the independence war. And the chaotic conditions at the burial site forced top officials planning to attend to turn back.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-02

[thaibeachlovers]

So he fought the French and they left, only to replaced by something as bad or worse. Ironic isn't it?

[Ulic]

You got rid of the French colonialists with military force, I understand that, but then you got a military government so not really sure how well you did. Every Algerian that can heads for France. You for Switzerland. Makes me chuckle. All that said, it could be worse. Haiti got rid of the French a couple of centuries ago and are adamant about blaming the French for there woes. Meanwhile the French Caribbean islands are doing quite well. France cannot get rid of them.

[Acharn]

So he fought the French and they left, only to replaced by something as bad or worse. Ironic isn't it?

And how do you know what replaced it was as bad or worse? At least it was Algerian, and the Berber and Arab Algerians never were part of France (well, they have French citizenship now, IIRC). I admit it doesn't look very attractive to me, but did you ever watch the movie Battle for Algiers?

[thaibeachlovers]

So he fought the French and they left, only to replaced by something as bad or worse. Ironic isn't it?

And how do you know what replaced it was as bad or worse? At least it was Algerian, and the Berber and Arab Algerians never were part of France (well, they have French citizenship now, IIRC). I admit it doesn't look very attractive to me, but did you ever watch the movie Battle for Algiers?

So it's better to be killed by your own countrymen than foreigners?

From Wikipedia

War of independence up to 152,863 dead

Civil war up to 150,000 dead

Hence "as bad as".

[Briggsy]

The truth is Algeria and most of the world's developing (or maybe not developing) states would be far better off as would their peoples if run by white European administrators. However such a truth does not play well to the gallery these days.

[thaibeachlovers]

The truth is Algeria and most of the world's developing (or maybe not developing) states would be far better off as would their peoples if run by white European administrators. However such a truth does not play well to the gallery these days.

Actually, better if run by Singaporeans. They have run the most successful small country in the world. Compared to them, the western world is run by a bunch of incompetent kindie kids.

I think you are referring to an age gone by when British administrators of the colonised world were far, far better men than any of the petty minded bureaucrats that infest government departments today.