Government Professor Dirk Vandewalle recently testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the dangerous political situation in Algeria, where he said 40 to 50 people are killed weekly.
Vandewalle was one of four people scheduled to testify on what course of action the United States should pursue in Algeria, which has been on the brink of civil war since a military regime ascended to power in January of 1992.
Ambassador to Egypt Robert Paltrow, a professor from Johns Hopkins University and a professor from Haverford College also testified on Algeria's current political climate.
In Vandewalle's five-page testimony, which he presented last Wednesday, he said Algeria is in a virtual state of civil war between the current government and Islamists.
"Both sides ... are armed and increasingly organized specifically to target their opposition," he said. "In addition, each side has increasingly resorted to systematic intimidation and human rights abuse."
He told the committee the United States can no longer remain neutral in the conflict, but he urged the committee not to "demonize any group involved in the conflict in Algeria."
Although Vandewalle said Islam and democracy are often viewed as incompatible, several Islamic movements in North America have shown a willingness to work with democracy, only to be "rebuffed when they asked for tangible political access."
He said the United States should not view the current struggle as existing only between the current government and radical Islamists.
Although the United States could be pleased that Islamic forces did not take over the government in 1992, Vandewalle said there are still many problems in Algeria.
"There is no doubt that an Islamic victory in 1992 would have been problematic for Algeria and for the West, but the alternative now in place is just as difficult," he said.
Instead, Vandewalle said the United States should take an activist role in Algeria, using several different methods of aid.
"We should demand greater political and economic accountability and more closely tie economic aid and political support to performance," he said.
Specifically, he recommended the United States insist on a return to multi-party politics in Algeria.
He advised the committee that Algeria should get carefully monitored economic aid that is "tied to both economic feasibilities and to the creation of greater political accountability inside the country."
Vandewalle said turmoil in the country started when Algeria became independent in 1962.
Economic and political strategies adopted after the country's independence "set the stage for a conflict between the state and several groups in civil society that would almost inevitably conflagrate in the 1980s," he said.
Riots in a poor neighborhood of Algeria's capital in 1988 led to the search for political pluralism and increased public liberty, he said. Algerian military intervention in the conflict against Islamic forces in 1992 further destabilized the country, Vandewalle said.
