Islamic Militants Go on Alert in Algerian Crisis : Politics: A state of emergency is reportedly being readied by the government. Leaders plead for calm.

Amid reports that the government is preparing to impose a state of emergency, Islamic fundamentalists raised the stakes in the battle for control of Algeria on Monday by urging their militants to “prepare for all eventualities to save the country.”

As key politicians and religious leaders at the mosques pleaded for calm and warned of the danger of civil war, the Islamic Salvation Front denounced the interim government’s order scrapping parliamentary elections a day after taking over control of the country from President Chadli Bendjedid, who resigned.

“Faced with this serious situation, it is not permitted for any citizen to remain neutral,” the Islamic Front proclaimed. “We call on veteran fighters, thinkers, religious leaders, senior army officers and soldiers, sons of the martyrs, social leaders and all who love Algeria to take a stand against this giant of power.”

Islamic fundamentalists, who were set to capture a large majority of Parliament in Algeria’s first multi-party elections had second-round balloting proceeded as scheduled Thursday, stopped short of calling their militants into the streets. Indeed, they offered no prescriptions for combatting the army’s move to scrap the elections.

But their strident tone set the stage for conflict with the military-backed government, which is reported ready to outlaw the Islamic party if the political debate turns violent, as it has done twice before in the past three years.

Fundamentalist leaders are said to be deeply divided over how to respond to the crisis, facing the possibility of losing their sanction as a political entity if they contest the government and their legitimacy with the populace if they do not.

“They’re doomed if they fight, and they’re doomed if they give in, so they figure they may as well fight,” said one analyst in the Algerian capital after the Islamic Front’s declaration.

Prayer leaders at the mosques appealed for calm, and former revolutionary war hero Hocine Ait Ahmed, whose secular, pro-democracy Socialist Forces Front won more than half a million votes in the first round of balloting Dec. 26, urged Islamic leaders to “control their troops and not engage in operations which risk opening the door on civil war.”

There was little sign of rising tension in the streets, where Algerians streamed to work and into the sparsely stocked shops seemingly oblivious to the government crisis--except for the newsstands, which sold out their stocks shortly after opening in the morning.

But diplomats have confirmed reports by the fundamentalists of large movements of army troops into Algiers during the last week; tanks and armored personnel carriers were scattered at the entrances of key government buildings.

There were unconfirmed reports that the government is preparing to impose a state of emergency, which would permit imposition of curfews and travel restrictions. But there were no signs of such a declaration by late Monday, and some diplomats said that a new law adopted last month already gives the army broad powers to intervene in the event of civil disturbances.

Some diplomats and government officials predicted that the fundamentalists would maintain a low profile during the next several weeks in an attempt to patch together a political solution.

A Foreign Ministry official said he expects contacts over the next few weeks among the army, the Islamic Front, the old ruling National Liberation Front and the Socialist Forces Front to arrive at a compromise slate of candidates for a new presidential election. That would clear the way for new legislative elections later.

“The contacts will be very secret. After that, you will see one or two candidates on whom everyone can agree,” the official said, adding that the Islamic Front “has no choice,” and “must accept to make some compromise with the army, or it will disappear.”

But such a scenario assumes that moderates continue to exercise sway over the leadership of the Islamic Front and that the moderates are willing to accept a non-Islamic presidential candidate at a moment when the Islamic party has demonstrated it can capture more than two-thirds of the National Assembly.

Philosophy Prof. Abassi Madani and preacher Ali Belhaj, the Islamic Front’s two most strident leaders, remain in prison after a nationwide strike they called last May that led to a bloody state of siege in June.

Abdelkadir Hachani, the Islamic Front’s acting leader, is considered a moderate. But he must answer to a shadowy, little-known governing council that includes fundamentalists who have bitterly opposed even joining the electoral process.

Armed militants not believed to be directly connected to the Islamic Front already have been involved in at least three recent attacks in the south of Algeria, one of which led to the death of two border guards.

Some analysts said the government may be overly confident in its ability to neutralize the Islamic party. More and more, images of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution are called up by observers here--pictures of an unarmed Tehran populace that took to the streets and eventually subdued one of the largest armies in the world.

Yet several diplomats in the Algerian capital said that the Islamic Front appears to be maturing as a political movement and may in the end elect diplomacy, rather than militancy, to fight the latest government moves. “They probably learned their lesson in May and June, and I would guess they’re going to lie low for awhile,” said one analyst. “I think the army is prepared to move if they have to, and I think the (Islamic Front) knows that.”

Added a senior official with close ties to Bendjedid: “They’re capable of everything, but they’re not so stupid. They’ll wait and see what mistakes the system is going to make, and they will exploit them. They’re not going to start demonstrating and have their people shot unless they know there will be some sympathy on the other side.”

Senior government sources said it now appears that it was a very small circle of army generals and retired generals, along with the interior and defense ministers, who elected to move against Bendjedid on Saturday and force his resignation after more than 12 years in office.

Their motivation, the sources said, was “panic” at the Islamic Front’s unexpectedly strong showing in the Dec. 26 balloting. It indicated that the party had every possibility of winning a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, enough to amend the constitution, if the second round of voting were to proceed.

Bendjedid had reportedly argued for a gradual political solution, in which he would exercise his considerable powers as president to slow the party’s move toward an Islamic state until new elections could be held, in which the Islamic Front would, presumably, make a much weaker showing.

The army wasn’t the only one alarmed at the election outcome. Several newspapers had called for a delay in proceeding with the next round of elections.

Former President Ahmed Ben Bella, considered a possible, though unlikely, candidate to succeed Bendjedid, on Monday applauded the “deep patriotism” of the perpetrators of the effective coup. “The political situation was at an impasse, and our country found itself on the edge of an abyss, with the specter of civil war on one hand and foreign threats on the other,” he said.

Some senior National Liberation Front leaders appear convinced they can pull the democratic process back on track. They blame the fundamentalists’ strong showing not on an irreversible tide of voter sentiment but on Islamic leaders’ alleged intimidation of voters and reported instances of fraud at polling stations overseen by Islamic Front leaders.

National Liberation leaders in many cases now blame themselves for allowing such alleged abuses to occur--and even for allowing the Islamic Front to participate in the elections. Many now say the party should have been outlawed after the crackdown in June.

But other analysts here say that National Liberation leaders continue to ignore the reality that much of the Islamic Front’s support stems from dissatisfaction with their ruling party. It maintained its one-party domination for 30 years, during which the country has been plunged into economic disaster. Unemployment stands at 23%. Industries are faltering. Foreign debts are mounting.

The public’s largely lackadaisical reaction to Bendjedid’s speedy disappearance, he said, reflects that same disillusion with the National Liberation Front, which captured only 25 seats in the Dec. 26 balloting, compared with 188 taken by the Islamic Front.

“Chadli was the last lock in the way of real democratization,” the official said. “Now, the whole process will explode.”