The Algerian President, Mr Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has granted amnesty to fighters of the guerrilla Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), which has observed a truce since October 1997, officials said yesterday. The president's office said the AIS, the armed wing of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), had decided to "definitively dissolve" in order to reintegrate "completely and totally into Algerian society".
The presidential pardon follows several weeks of talks between the authorities and the AIS, whose strength is estimated at between 800 and 3,000. The move recognised the AIS's "unilateral decision" to observe a truce in 1997.
