Algeria to accept rebel surrender after amnesty

ALGIERS, Sep 3 (Reuters) The door will remain open to Algerian rebels who want to surrender after the expiry of an amnesty aimed at ending more than a decade of violence, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said today.

His statement came after Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said earlier the six-month amnesty, which ended on August 31, should remain open for rebels who want to give themselves up after the deadline.

''Until now there has been no extension, but it won't make sense to reject the repentance of a terrorist wishing to surrender even after the deadline,'' Zerhouni told reporters when asked if the amnesty would be extended.

''What do you want me to say to somebody who wants to surrender? Go back to the mountain? Of course not. ... I must accept his repentance,'' he added.

Analysts say such comments by senior governments could prepare the way for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to endorse extending the pardon by an executive decree in the coming days.

The amnesty gives immunity to any rebel who surrenders, provided they did not commit massacres, rape or bombings of public places.

Up to 300 guerrillas have surrendered since the measure came into force on February 28, according to the government. But experts estimate several hundred more die-hard rebels are still fighting.

The amnesty has also meant that 2,200 former Islamist rebels captured in the fighting have been freed from prison and members of the security forces were given blanket immunity from prosecution for any wrongdoing committed during the conflict.

The insurgency cost the lives of 200,000 people since it broke out in 1992 when the authorities cancelled parliamentary elections that a now-banned radical Islamist party was poised to win.

The level of violence has fallen sharply in recent years but there are still some attacks.

Islamic militants killed four Algerian policemen in an ambush late yesterday, and five other policemen were injured in the rebel attack outside the coastal town of Bejaia, east of Algiers, independent daily Liberte said.

The authorities were not immediately available for comment.

The al Qaeda-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has said it was opposed to laying down its arms in exchange for an amnesty.

Reuters LL GC1946