Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, the Garde Communale (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: الحرس البلدي), was a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

troop in charge of monitoring and protecting the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

during the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War (), known in Algeria as the Black Decade (, ), was a civil war fought between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups from 11 January 1992 (following a 1992 Algerian coup d'état, coup negating an Islami ...

Creation

The Garde Communale was created in 1996 as an auxiliary force by the

Algerian government Politics of Algeria takes place in a framework of a constitutional semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Algeria is head of state while the Prime Minister of Algeria is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the go ...

, under the impetus of the

Algerian People's National Armed Forces The People's National Army (PNA) () is the military of the Algerian republic. It is the direct successor of the National Liberation Army (ALN), the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front, which fought French colonial rule d ...

authority. It played a significant role

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

warfare against armed Islamist groups.

History

During the Algerian Civil War, the Algerian Army forces responsible for the security of the country in the big cities and the communes, were confronted with surging terrorist attacks which caused many losses in their ranks. The military authorities, eager to relieve the army, which practically alone bore the weight of the anti-

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

, decided, jointly with the Ministry of the Interior, to create a communal guard on 3 August 1996. To do this, they recruit from the same pool as the guerrilla factions and local armed bands. Young people from the former

Islamic Salvation Front The Islamic Salvation Front (; , FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representing its two bases of its support; Abbassi Madani appealed to pious small businessmen, and Ali Belhadj appealed to the a ...

join the municipal guard, by political calculation or by necessity. In the difficult economic situation of young people, a job in security is a godsend. The recruits were supervised by the Gendarmerie Nationale and received an accelerated training of two months, wore the uniform and were paid, the government was able to offer them advantages such as housing and cars, but remained suspicious and did not entrust them with more sophisticated weaponry. The Garde Communale was placed under the authority of the

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the DEC (Communal Executive Delegation) and the

walis Elis () or Eleia (; ; Elean: ; ) is an ancient district in Greece that corresponds to the modern regional unit of Elis. Elis is in southern Greece on the Peloponnese, bounded on the north by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messenia ...

(prefects) and integrated into the new anti-guerrilla fight system, the communal guard succeeded in securing reconquered urban areas and allowing the army counter-terrorist corps to undertake its first attacks against the

Armed Islamic Group The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from ; ) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War. It was created from smaller armed groups following the 1992 military coup and ar ...

maquis in 1994. Members of the communal guard did not leave city centers in their early stages, and were only ever operational inside urban centers. The Garde Communale was sometimes employed in search operations against armed Islamist groups in the mountains.

Dissolution

The Garde Communale was dissolved by decree on 31 October 2012.

References

Algerian Civil War Law enforcement in Algeria Paramilitary organisations based in Algeria Military units and formations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Algeria Civil–military relations Military units and formations disestablished in 2012 2010s disestablishments in Algeria {{Algeria-hist-stub

Creation

History

Dissolution

See also

References