On N. Africa Tour, Chirac Condemns Terrorism, Praises Islam

Jacques Chirac condemned terrorism and praised Islam as a “religion of peace” Saturday during a tour of mostly Muslim former colonies in North Africa, including Algeria, where he was the first French president to set foot in 12 years.

In talks with leaders, Chirac sought to solidify cooperation in the fight against terrorism. In Algeria, where a bloody Islamic insurgency has created a breeding ground for extremism, he took an emotional walk through a flood-ravaged Algiers neighborhood where a banned Muslim group was born.

Chirac worked a crowd of thousands in Bab el Oued, hit hard by floods that killed more than 700 people last month, embracing young children and shaking hands under the wary eye of security forces.

“Welcome, Chirac!” some in the crowd shouted at a market transformed by the floods into a deep, gaping hole in the ground. Others cried out, “Misery, misery!” or “Give us visas!”

At a news conference, Chirac spoke of the suffering the floods caused. “It was very emotional for me to visit this Algiers neighborhood. Imagine this drama, what the victims felt, those who lost everything,” he said.

Chirac’s steps in Bab el Oued were also symbolic because the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front was established and flourished there, filling streets with tens of thousands of faithful at the local mosque for Friday prayers in the early 1990s.

Chirac made no mention of the 130,000 civilians, soldiers and insurgents killed since Algeria’s Islamic insurgency erupted in 1992 after the army canceled national elections that Muslim fundamentalists appeared likely to win.

However, he acknowledged President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s “determination” to contribute to the international fight against terrorism and said intelligence cooperation between France and Algeria was being strengthened to meet the new challenge.

Islamic extremist movements in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, all former French colonies, have been a source of terrorist activities in Europe and North America, feeding the international groups that helped Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network flourish.

“Terrorism is a great danger and in no way can be considered a means of expression,” Chirac said in Tunis after meeting with Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali. “It is a crime.”

He said he and Ben Ali condemned efforts to link Islam, “a religion of peace,” with terrorism and agreed on the need for a “dialogue of civilizations and cultures” as a crucial component of the fight against terrorism.

Ben Ali has led an ironfisted campaign against Islamic extremists, crushing the Nahda--or Renaissance--movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

However, Tunisians have been arrested in Europe and elsewhere on suspicion of terrorism or related activities over the last decade and since vigilance was stepped up after Sept. 11. At least one Tunisian is among the suspects in a plot uncovered to attack U.S. targets in France.