ALGERIA: TEACHERS JOINED AL-QAEDA AFFILIATE, MINISTER SAYS

Algiers, 6 April (AKI) - Some 300 Algerian teachers have in the past belonged to the al-Qaeda linked Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the country's education minister has said. Bakr Bin Buzayd, quoted by the website of the Al-Arabiya satellite network, said that over the past decade of violence in Algeria, close to 300 teachers had left their classrooms to join the GSPC terror cells in the mountains. "To date we have not received any requests from these people to resume their teaching roles" said Buzayd.
"Despite this, there is no reason why in the future they could not be gradually reintegrated into the teaching staff" he said.

He said his government had studied this phenomenon closely as part of the charter, approved by parliament and endorsed in a referendum last October, which includes an amnesty for any former terrorists who have not been involved in rape or mass killings.

The so called "charter for peace and national reconciliation" grants a pardon to Islamic militants who rose up against the army-backed regime in 1992, after it cancelled elections that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win. It bans top Islamists from politics, a move analysts say was intended to ensure the support of Algeria's powerful army. The charter also praises the army for its role in protecting state institutions during the civil war.