Monks may make post-war return to Algeria-cardinal

TIBHIRINE, Algeria, Feb 21 (Reuters) Monks may return to Algeria for the first time in a decade to reopen a monastery closed after the 1996 murder of seven Trappists at the height of the country's civil war, a French cardinal said.

''We must pray that this succeeds,'' Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon told reporters yesterday during a visit to the graves of the seven Frenchmen at Our Lady of Atlas monastery, set amid wine growing hills near Medea, 70 km south of Algiers.

''There are plans for the re-establishment of a community here.

... There have been attempts in the past 11 years which came to nothing. But now there is a new attempt.'' Algeria plunged into violence after its military cancelled an election in 1992 that a radical Islamic party was poised to win.

More than 200,000 people were killed in ensuing fighting.

The seven monks were among several Trappists who decided to stay on at the monastery in Tibhirine village despite threats against them by Islamist militants, because their neighbours depended on them for food and care.

They were abducted from the monastery on March 26 and killed two months later. Guerrillas of the Armed Islamic Group said they had slit their throats after Paris refused to negotiate a release of Islamist detainees of Algerian extraction.

The monastery, the only one in Algeria, was abandoned after the murder and the surviving members of the Tibhirine community moved to Morocco.

The visit to Tibhirine was the highlight of a joint tour of Algeria made by Barbarin and Azzedine Gaci, president of the Rhone-Alpes Regional Muslim Council, in an effort to promote inter-religious understanding and tolerance.

In a courtyard of the monastery, set amid valleys and forests once infested by Islamist guerrillas during Algeria's years of strife, Gaci and Barbarin led prayers calling for brotherhood and dialogue between Muslims and Christians.

''As Muslims today we must respect the feelings and the complexity of all those who do not share our faith and with whom we should live,'' said Gaci, a Frenchman of Algerian origin.

''There has been a lot of evil committed in the hearts of men.

It's necessary to ask God's forgiveness,'' said Barbarin.

Christian scholars say the monks' humanitarian work serving the impoverished district remains an example of inter-faith cooperation that has international importance in an age of increasing religious polarisation.

Locals say they miss the medical care provided by the monks.

''Since their death, life has changed for the worse for people here,'' said resident Hamid Redahi, 54. ''Care was given free. Now we have to pay (at state clinics) and the care isn't good.'' Algeria, an early outpost of Christianity and the birthplace of St Augustine, became overwhelmingly Muslim with the Arab conquest of North Africa in the 7th century.

Almost all the million strong Christian community fled at independence from France in 1962 and only a handful of churches remain. According to officials, no more than 5,000 Christians, including expatriates, live in the country of 33 million.

REUTERS YA KN0810