Thousands Pay Respects to Slain Algerian Leader

Tens of thousands of Algerians, a handful chanting fundamentalist Islamic slogans, flanked the streets of this capital city Wednesday as the funeral cortege of assassinated leader Mohammed Boudiaf slowly filed to a burial site in a suburban cemetery reserved for national heroes.

Nervous police, army and special security forces, some carrying submachine guns with cartridge belts wrapped around their necks, controlled the generally passive crowd with few incidents of violence.

The most tense moment along the 10-mile procession route came at the Place des Martyrs near the city’s central mosque, where Boudiaf’s flag-draped wooden coffin was presented for prayers. There, in one of the most congested spots in the old city, some young men in the crowd began to chant a song made popular by the banned National Islamic Front, whose followers are blamed for the killings of more than 100 policemen in recent months. Others in the crowd yelled slogans laying the blame for Boudiaf’s assassination on the regime he replaced, headed by deposed President Chadli Bendjedid.

“Chadli assassin! Long live Boudiaf!” shouted the demonstrators, some riding on the shoulders of their associates.

Only a handful of foreign leaders, headed by French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, attended the funeral of Boudiaf, who was called in as a figurehead leader of the military-backed junta in January after 28 years of exile in neighboring Morocco.

Boudiaf, 73, was killed Monday at a public meeting in Annaba, 300 miles east of Algiers, by one or more attackers who appeared to have planned the act days in advance. The relative sophistication of the assassination, in a government cultural center, differed greatly from the drive-by killings, mostly at roadblock checkpoints, for which underground Islamic militants have been blamed.

As a result, speculation as to who was behind the assassination has focused increasingly on individuals or groups within the regime itself.

“The assassins penetrated the government-controlled building with guns and grenades,” commented one Western diplomat here. “They knew where Boudiaf would be and when he would be there. These things point to an inside job.”

One of Boudiaf’s sons was repeatedly quoted on Algerian radio Wednesday as describing his father’s killing as well-organized and hinting at a conspiracy.