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Algeria
National Security
![[GIF]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/algeria/dz05_00a.gif)
Tipasa, showing Mount Chenoua in the background. Tipasa marks
the terminus of the Sahel region.
BORN IN A BLOODY REVOLUTION from French colonial rule, Algeria
became independent in 1962. The new nation was governed for more
than twenty-five years by two military figures--Houari Boumediene
from 1965 until 1978 and Chadli Benjedid from 1979 until early
1992. Although both presidents relied upon the armed forces for
support, their regimes were by no means military dictatorships.
The military, however, was heavily represented in the National
Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale--FLN), the single
party that controlled Algeria's socialist state until 1989. Nonetheless,
under Boumediene and Benjedid civilian government institutions
developed, and a multiparty parliamentary system emerged in 1989.
To avert a likely election victory by the Islamic party, the
Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut--FIS), the minister
of defense led a coup in January 1992 that brought down the civilian
government, which was soon replaced by a High Council of State
dominated by the military. In the course of 1992 and 1993, the
army and the police were called upon to deal with armed uprisings
by those groups who saw the military takeover as cheating the
Islamic movement of its popular mandate. A crackdown against officials
and organs of the FIS failed to bring an end to the violence,
which resulted in 600 deaths among the security forces in the
twelve months after the coup. Hundreds of civilians, including
Islamic demonstrators and some foreigners, were also killed. The
normal processes of government were paralyzed by the tense internal
situation, and the army struggled to contain the uprising.
Security problems beyond the national borders, which had in the
past motivated the government, aided by the Soviet Union, to buildup
the military, had become less pressing by the early 1990s. Algeria's
support for a nationalist insurgency in the Western Sahara had
collided with Morocco's ambition to absorb the territory, but
by 1993 the conflict seemed to be winding down. A cooperation
treaty in 1989 among the Maghrib
(see Glossary) states, incorporating security clauses intended
to prevent future military confrontation, reflected the more pacific
climate prevailing in the region.
Algeria has a large and reasonably well-equipped military to
counter foreign and domestic threats. The People's National Army
(Armée Nationale Populaire--ANP) include ground forces, an air
force, navy, and an air defense command. The National Gendarmerie
(Gendarmerie Nationale), a paramilitary body, is used mainly as
a police force in rural areas. The army, in the process of being
reorganized into four divisions in 1993, also has numerous independent
brigades and battalions. Its antecedents were the conventional
military units formed in Morocco and Tunisia during the War of
Independence from France. In 1993 the air force was equipped with
about 193 combat aircraft and fifty-eight armed helicopters. The
navy consisted of a small fleet of frigates, corvettes, and missile
craft, together with two modern submarines. Except for brief clashes
with Morocco in 1976, the armed forces have not been involved
in hostilities against a foreign power. Their combat capabilities
in defense of the country has thus remained untested.
The arms and equipment initially supplied by the Soviet Union
were of good quality, but some of the matériel had been in inventory
for up to two decades. Earlier shipments were later supplemented
by more modern tanks, armored vehicles, and missile launchers.
Because of economic dislocation and a scarcity of foreign exchange,
Algeria in the early 1990s postponed the acquisition of more modern
equipment. Instead, it assigned priority to training and effective
maintenance of existing weapons. More than half the army's personnel
strength consisted of conscripts, some of whom were detailed to
economic infrastructure projects after basic training. However,
since Chadli Benjedid's introduction of market-oriented economic
reforms in the late 1980s, the army has curtailed its involvement
in construction, agricultural, and manufacturing activities.
Data as of December 1993
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